The A-Z of Captain James T Kirk's Medical File
by Katiikiinz
Summary: Another A-Z series of one-shots based around Jim's adventures that land him in sickbay. May contain Beyond Spoilers! (Warnings will be in place) - Lots of Jim!Hurts - Updating VERY Soon! -
1. Prologue

_**Authors Note:**_

 _So here it is! My newest fan fiction. It will be a series of one shots in A-Z form. A Chapter list of what you have to look forward to is below. You may recognise some of the things I've put on there!_

 _I am aware there is a similar story out like this right now, written by Thisoldgirl._  
 _I made to sure contact her directly first to make sure she was ok with what I had intended to write. She is happy for me to share this all with you as we are both Jim!Hurts/Whump Jim fans. Our stories are different from each other and I would like to thank her for inspiring me to write this to start with!_

 _This will be based AFTER BEYOND. Some chapters will come with a warning if they contain any spoilers. However it will be McCoy remembering all those times Jim hurt himself and ended up in his sickbay, including possible ones from the academy, 5 year mission and even during the events of Beyond (Aka Chapter K- Krall)_

 _I hope you all enjoy and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all think._

 **I Do Not Own Star Trek -  
** but I still wish I owned Chris Pine.

* * *

 **The A-Z of Captain James T Kirk's Medical File**

 _McCoy took a sip at his strong black coffee. He had finally been allowed to have some shore leave while the ship was being repaired from the whole Krall event. While the rest of the surviving crew visited their families or explored Yorktown, McCoy found himself rebuilding the medical files of the crew. Fortunately all records are kept on back up in Starfleet General Hospital. So the files that were destroyed on The Enterprise were easy to replace._

 _McCoy took another small sip as he powered away, installing file after file of 400 crew members. Sadly most of which needed to be updated with the word 'Deceased' and stored back away, however that still meant updating all 400 files. There wasn't a single crew member that didn't require medical attention of some sort. Luckily most were superficial cuts, grazes and bruises, with the exception of Spock and obviously, Jim._

 _It only took him a day to reach the letter K of the alphabet, and there it was: KIRK – James T. The file he was looking forward to least. It was by far the biggest file of all the crew as Jim had a slight habit of getting into all sorts of trouble, which usually meant he ended up in sickbay… eventually. He flicked open the file and spent some time reading some of the more… intriguing, situations he had found Jim in. The record was as old as Jim's time in Starfleet Academy and there wasn't many times he wasn't in trouble back then. He let out a small chuckle as he flicked through the many stories, he really did have an A-Z of stories which resulted in medical intervention._

 **oOo**

 **Chapter's List**

 **A is for: Allergies  
** **B is for: Bends  
** **C is for: Cave In  
** **D is for: Daggers  
** **E is for: Exhaustion  
** **F is for: Flu  
** **G is for: General Anaesthetic  
** **H is for: Heat Stroke/Heat Exhaustion  
I is for: Intervention  
J is for: Joint Dislocation  
K is for: Krall  
L is for: Lung Worm  
M is for: Migraine  
N is for: Nose Bleed  
O is for: Orion  
P is for: Puncture Wound  
Q is for:  
R is for: Rigelian Fever  
S is for: Andorian Shingles  
T is for: Trauma  
U is for: Unicorns  
V is for: Vians  
W is for: Withdrawal  
X is for: Xenopolycythemia  
Y is for: Yarim Fel Syndrome  
Z is for: Zanthi Fever**

 ** _oOo_**


	2. A is for Allergies

**Chapter One  
A is for Allergies**

Captain James Kirk paced in his private quarters. He enjoyed his own space, but when he was off duty he did tend to get bored. He preferred to be kept busy on duty there was always someone needed him or somewhere that he needed to be. It normally meant the captain was rarely off duty, however, for the first time in a while he was very much off duty.

He sat at his desk and let out a long drawn sigh as he tapped his fingers in turn on the hard surface.

"Computer. Locate: Lt. Sulu." He ordered his screen, waiting for the results. He assumed maybe Sulu would be off duty the same time as him and wanted to see if he could coax him into some gym time. He always pushed himself harder when there was some else to train with. His screen soon changed showing Sulu was in his own quarters. Jim smiled to himself, pleased that he had found a way to soon entertain himself. He quickly grabbed his Starfleet issue black t shirt, loose fitting tracksuit trousers, grubby white trainers and stuffed them all in his gym bag. He swung the bag over his shoulder and practically skipped out as he headed down to Sulu's quarters.

 **oOo**

The buzzer chimed on Sulu's door and it didn't take long for the man to open it. He seemed pleasantly surprised to see his captain standing at his door. Sulu often made requests that they spent some down time together, however Kirk always seemed to busy to give him a second thought.

"Captain! It's good to see you. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked the grinning man at his door.

Jim wasn't one to hold back and walked straight into Sulu's quarters. He had to admit he liked seeing how people had made their quarters their own little home. There were beautiful plants all placed down one side of the room, while a small collection of fencing swords were mounted to the wall securely. He room was incredibly neat and tidy, another thing that Jim admired.

"I have some spare off duty time if you fancied a trip to the gym?" he asked, looking closely at the plants.

Sulu laughed. "Of course, sir. I could do with a challenge. I'll just go and grab my things." He said as he turned to his sleeping section of the room.

"You have a beautiful quarters, lieutenant." Jim said, smirking. He stared at the swords mounted to the wall, without noticing how close he was to the plants beside him. "Remind me to come here next time our ships invaded."

Sulu laughed from around the corner, a small divider separated the men but Sulu knew what Jim meant. "I'm afraid they are blunt, sir. Starfleet orders. It was the only way I was allowed to bring them aboard."

"I'm sure if we spoke to Scotty he could…OUCH." Jim instantly grabbed his left upper arm rubbing it slightly to reduce the pain. "Something just bit me."

Sulu poked his head around the corner. "Ah yes, Betty. Sorry about her, she doesn't like new people."

Jim stepped to the side watching as the plant moved up and down. "I think I'm bleeding." He said, looking at his hand. He was bleeding, but not by much, there were only a few spots left on his hand when he moved it away from the wound.

"That's Betty for you. She's a Retlaw Plant, beautiful at sight but deadly at heart. Don't worry, I had McCoy remove all her venom. She is harmless." Sulu explained from behind the screen.

"And there was me thinking it was a harmless little dandelion." Jim said, continuing to eye the plant up and down.

"If you're worried you can always go and see McCoy in sickbay?" Sulu smirked, waking out with his gym kit on and carrying a grey towel.

Jim shook his head. He hated Sickbay. "Nah, I'm fine. Look its already stopped bleeding." He said showing him his clean hand.

Sulu looked at Jim, suddenly he had a sheen of sweat on his forehead and he looked visibly sick. His skin was suddenly whiter than a sheet although his cheeks were a shade of red. He through his towel on the side below his swords. "I think you need to go, sir. You don't look that great. We can always work out another time."

"How often do I get off duty time?" He asked, picking up the towel Sulu threw down. He wiped the sweat off his head, causing his damp hair to stick up. "It's hot in here."

Sulu just stared, something was clearly wrong.

"Sulu I'm…" But Jim couldn't finish his sentence. His legs gave up from under him and he fell straight to the ground in a heap. His eyes rolled back into his head as they slowly closed. Sulu didn't even have the chance to catch him and soften the blow.

He ran to his comm on the wall by his door. "Sulu to sickbay. Medical emergency in my quarters. It's the captain." He practically shouted in to the speaker.

"On our way." McCoy said back without questioning a thing.

 **oOo**

"What the hell happened to him?" McCoy practically screamed as he pushed his way past Sulu. His eyes never left Kirk's body.

"He was fine! Then out of nowhere he turned white and collapsed to the floor." Sulu explained.

McCoy quickly grabbed his tricorder and started scanning, it didn't take long for the results to come in. "He's had an allergic reaction to something. His body is going into shock. We need him in sickbay quickly." He explained his results, pointing to the nurses standing with the gurney. They instantly pulled the captain onto it and carried him out. Sulu felt useless as he watched them carry the captain away.

"He should be fine if I can isolate the reaction. Did he eat anything new while he was here? Touch anything he shouldn't have touched?" McCoy said, looking around the room for clues.

"He was bitten by Betty." Sulu said, moving over to his plants. He gently stroked the plant that bit Jim and the strange thing let out a little purr.

McCoy raised an eyebrow. "I thought that thing was harmless without its venom?"

"She is." Sulu said, defending his plant. "She doesn't like new people, but nobody has ever had an allergic reaction to her before. She's bitten a couple of people now."

McCoy scanned the plant using his tricorder as it continued to purr at Sulu's touch. "We will be having words about… Betty, later lieutenant." He said reading his scanners report.

 **oOo**

By the time McCoy had caught up to the nurses that carried Jim to sickbay they had already placed him on the biobed. The monitor above his bed soon sprang into action, sounding with an alarm the second it registered Jim's increasing temperature.

McCoy managed to swoop some pain meds straight into him using his trusty hypospray, bringing it down slightly. "We need to remove his shirt. He's been bitten."

Nurse Chapel wasted no time in cutting the captains golden shirt off, exposing his arm and torso.

"Good God." McCoy said after seeing the bite on his arm. The whole area was raised and glowing red. There was a raised hives like rash surrounding the area and he watched as it quickly spread up his arm.

Nurse Chapel grabbed a wash cloth and ran it under a cold tap, placing it on the captain's forehead. "You can't beat a bit of old fashioned water." McCoy looked up, nodding at her treatment as he continued to poke away at the bite wound.

"Let's hook him up with some IV Antihistamine and take it from there." McCoy explained. "The bite marks going to need the dermal regenerator, but I have the right mind to use old fashioned stitches just to teach him not to go around poking strange plants."

"Doctor!" Nurse Chapel was used to McCoy's way and his patience. Especially when it came to Jim.

"You know I'm far too nice to do that." McCoy smirked. Watching as she inserted the IV up, squeezing the bag of medicine before hanging it above Jim.

 **oOo**

"How is he, Doctor?" Sulu asked walking into sickbay. He had given it a few hours before facing McCoy's wrath about having plants that can give pretty nasty bites on board a space ship.

"A little groggy. But he's awake if you want to see him." McCoy said, waving him over to Jim's bed.

Sulu looked at Jim, he was sat up in bed tapping away at a PADD. His sheen was still on his forehead and hair was still slightly damp but his colour had already returned. "Captain, I'm so sorry." He whimpered.

Jim put his PADD down, "Don't apologise, Sulu. How were you supposed to know I would be allergic to Betty. Anyway, I think the real thing we need to discuss is when we are going to arrange having our little gym training session. You cant get out of it this way!" Jim teased.

Sulu blushed a little at his response. "I've arranged to have Betty beamed to the next Starbase we attend. She will be cared for by the scientists there until I can take her home."

Jim waved his hand, dismissing the idea. "Don't be silly, Sulu. Next time I won't stand so close. You can keep her aboard… just keep her in your quarters, okay?"

McCoy couldn't believe the conversation he was hearing, Jim was allowing a plant that could have easily killed him and put him into shock and instead of eliminating the chance of it happening again, he was letting it stay on board.

"Unbelievable." He muttered, leaving the pair to arrange a new time to train together.

 **oOo**


	3. B is for Bends

_**Authors Note:**_

 _I just wanted to thank all you all for your reviews and words of wisdom! Not only that but welcome to all my followers! I'm so glad your all reading and cant wait to work through the alphabet with all these stories. :)_

 _This story is set during the 5 year mission - Please keep the reviews coming, its humbling to see how you enjoy it._

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 **B is for Bends**

Jim Kirk was a naturally curious person, so when it came to receiving new orders you knew straight away that his mood would suddenly change and he would be incredibly upbeat. He practically skipped onto the bridge after his meeting with Pike earlier that day.

"Lt. Sulu! Set a course to Planet Gamma Hydra, we have new orders." Jim said as practically jumped down to his captain's chair to take a seat. "When we reach there I would like Mr. Chekov and Doctor McCoy to join me on the away team."

Chekov turned around in his chair. "Me, sir?"

Jim looked up from the electronic clipboard that was instantly waved under his nose as he gave Sulu his orders. "Yes, Chekov, from what your records tell me, you and Doctor McCoy both have experience with deep sea diving."

Chekov turned back around and nodded his head. "Aye, sir. I do. Back in Russia I trained to go Ice Diving. We explored the ice caves many, many times. It was very beautiful."

"It sounds fascinating…" said Jim without really listening. "Our orders are to locate the pair of endangered white tipped sharks, which were rehomed on Gamma Hydra to give their breed a fighting chance of survival. Starfleet wants us to observe them in their natural environment and look for signs of breeding. That's why good old fashioned diving is involved and not the ships scanners."

"Captain…" Spock started.

"Don't worry Spock, the waters would be far too cold for any Vulcan. That's why I've asked McCoy to join me in your place." Jim said, tapping Spock on the shoulder playfully.

"Captain, I was not questioning your orders. I was just going to suggest you take crewmen Smith, as she has experience in the marine sciences." Spock said, raising an eyebrow and placing his hands in the small of his back.

"Ah Yes, crewman Smith would be perfect for this – however due to a nasty case of flu, she wouldn't be able to use the diving equipment very well. She had offered to study our findings when we are back on board." Jim explained, proving the Vulcan wrong for once. "I'm off to sickbay to find Doctor McCoy and give him the news myself." He grinned, walking off the bridge with a skip in his step. McCoy was going to hate this.

 **oOo**

"Are you out of your fricking mind, Jim? Who would seriously think swimming in deep, freezing cold water to go and look at some beastly animal that could rip you to shreds in seconds, is a good idea?!" McCoy practically fell off his chair when Jim had barged into his office to tell him.

"Starfleet, that's who. They don't give orders like this to just anyone. Actually it was your file they found to suggest we should be the ones to get them! Something about a deep sea diving course you took during your time at the academy? Kept that one quiet." Jim winked at McCoy, teasing him further.

"That's because I sucked at it. I like the dry, hard, solid ground. The only reason I took that damn course is because I had to!" McCoy was pissed and it was made clear in his tone of voice.

"Well, those are your orders. I'll see you in the transporter room in an hour. Don't forget to pick up your swimming trunks!" Jim practically laughed as he waved himself out of sickbay.

"Dammnit Jim! I'm a doctor! Not a diver!"

 **oOo**

The transport down was successful, despite the amount of equipment they had. The trio were escorted to a small Starfleet boat by a Starfleet personnel that was based on the planet, annoyingly nobody had thought to keep people that were able to dive themselves on the planet. Jim just assumed it was because nobody really dived anymore, not since the improved scanners from star ships were invented.

It didn't take long for Chekov to work out the small boats controls and they took off to the suggested coordinates in the middle of the sea. McCoy held on to the side of the boat, he didn't cope with the choppy waters and turned a slightly pale white colour.

"Where is it…" McCoy said as he opened his bag to find his hypo spray. He quickly inserted an anti-nausea cartridge into it and pressed it to the side of his neck, before his lost the contents of his stomach in a way that Jim would never let him forget.

"We have arrived at the coordinates that commander Spock sent down, Captain!" Chekov called down the ship to Jim who was already walking around in his wet suit.

"Let's get ready to set out then!" Jim cheered, moving out onto the open part of the boat with his tank of oxygen and mask.

"I sure you hope you know what you're doing." McCoy grunted, following behind him.

 **oOo**

The landing party made it into the waters fine, Jim couldn't believe everything he was seeing, the waters were beautifully clear and he was able to see so much aquatic life. He watched around him as a small group of sting ray swam above him.

"This is amazing…" he whispered.

"It's quite a sight…" McCoy whispered back. Their masks were all connected just like a communicator, it made communicating underwater a lot easier.

"Captain! Look!" Chekov, who was swimming a little ahead of the group, was the first to notice the sharks. "It's the sharks and look!" he pointed.

"Don't get too close, Chekov." Jim warned him. He didn't know much of the animal they were looking for but listening to McCoy bitch about them earlier was playing on his mind.

"Well would you look at that…" McCoy finally caught up to Chekov and set his sights on a young pup swimming closely to its mother. "Life found a way."

They all admired the view, from a short distance. Jim was pleased of how clear the waters were, making it easier to document and record what they witnessed. The spent easily a couple of hours under the water just watching the animals around them, it was a truly fascinating thing to witness.

"Jim, we need to make our way back up now. I've completed scans and records and our oxygen will start running low soon." McCoy said, breaking the silence around them.

"I suppose your right, you two go ahead and I'll make sure we aren't followed by anything." Jim said, taking in his final look at all the underwater world.

Chekov and McCoy both rose to the surface and made it back onto their boat without issue. The sun on the planet was already starting to lower and the sky had turned a beautiful pink colour for them all to admire.

A few minutes later, and far quicker than McCoy had expected, Jim appeared at the water's surface. He shakily pulled his mask off his face and smiled at the two men looking down at him in the water.

He swam closer to the boat, noticing how the world felt as it was spinning. He wanted to pull himself out the water himself but couldn't managed and luckily both McCoy and Chekov caught a hand and pulled him aboard.

"Captain, are you ok?" Chekov asked, looking down at Jim's hand which were now violently shaking.

Jim stayed sat on the floor as McCoy pulled his oxygen tank off his back. "Just a little nausea." He said, watching the world spinning around him.

McCoy quickly pushed his trust hypo spray into his neck, causing Jim to flinch. "Anti-nausea. You should start to feel better soon." He smirked, he wanted to laugh seeing as he noticed Jim and Chekov laughing at him earlier.

"Let's just get back to land and get to the ship with our findings." Jim said, attempting to move from the floor but failing as his eyes were overcome with dizziness.

"Jim, you don't look so good." McCoy said, noticing Jim hadn't moved from the floor yet. "It cant be the nausea…"

"It must be the boat rocking. I'm fine, Bones." Jim said, looking down at his shaking hands.

"The hell you are." McCoy said, pulling his tricorder out from his bag. He quickly bent down to Jim and scanned him before he was pushed away and told to stop wasting his time. He took a sigh at the results. "Jim, I thought you had dived before."

"I have." Jim replied honestly.

"Well you have all the symptoms of the bends. Its nitrogen bubbles in the blood stream. We need to get you on-board the ship for some decompression time." McCoy explained. He wrapped an arm around Jim and helped him to the small sitting area. "Lie down and get some rest. It will make you feel better."

Jim, for once, followed his doctor's orders. He lie on his side across all the hard chairs and closed his eyes. Every breath caused a crushing pain in his chest. McCoy wasted no time in administering a small sedative to help numb the pain. He clicked it into the side of his neck and lay a towel over Jim before walking over to Chekov. "Stop the boat and contact the ship, the captain needs emergency medical treatment now." He practically whispered.

Chekov wasted no time in clicking off the engine and flicking open his communicator.

"Enterprise, do you read? We have a medical emergency and request immediate beam up."

"We have your coordinates. Stand by." The voice of the transporter engineer buzzed back.

McCoy took his place next to an unconscious Jim and grabbed hold of his arm. The welcoming sensation of the transporter brushed over them, leaving the ship abandoned.

 **oOo**

The second they arrived in sickbay, McCoy made sure to take Jim straight down to the decompression unit. He quickly ripped off Jim's wet suit and placed a pure oxygen feed over his nose and mouth before leaving the chamber.

"Will he be ok?" Chekov asked, his wet hair was still dripping slightly.

"My scanners confirmed he has the neurological bends. The bubbles from the nitrogen are currently in his brain and spinal cord. It could cause paralysis but luckily we caught it early enough. He needs to spend some time in the decompression unit but other than that he should be ok." McCoy explained to Chekov and the ear-wigging Vulcan he noticed standing in the doorway.

"I shall remain in command until the captain is fit to return to duty. Please inform me when he is awake." Spock said, before turning around and returning to the bridge.

"Ack! Mr Spock is good at creeping up on people." Chekov said after almost jumping out of his skin at the Vulcans voice.

"There's nothing more we can do for now, Chekov. I suggest we get changed and grab something warm to eat before our body temperatures drop any further. Nurse Chapel please inform me if he wakes up and whatever you do – don't let him out." He teased, Nurse Chapel knew what an escape artist Jim was.

 **oOo**

It wasn't until later in the evening that Jim woke up, he had already ripped of his oxygen mask three times and refused to lay down. It wasn't until McCoy had told him that laying down reduces the pain and helps speed up the treatment that he actually listened.

"You can leave later tonight, Jim. But any pain, numbness or headaches and I want you straight back. Your signed off duty and I've made sure Spock keeps you off that bridge." McCoy said through the speaker into the decompression unit. "You've got a whole week of these treatments to go through and I want to see you at every single damn appointment."

Jim rolled his eyes as he pulled off the oxygen mask for the fourth time. "Ok, I promise. I'll go straight to my quarters."

McCoy grinned. He knew Jim wasn't going straight to his quarters at all, more like engineering to see what mischief he could get into with Scotty. The second the decompression doors opened, Jim practically ran out. Luckily McCoy grabbed hold of his wrist and clicked on a medical bioscanner.

"Oh really Bones? I don't need this." Jim sigh, waving his wrist around to try and click the bracelet off.

"If you don't need it then you won't mind wearing it. I'll see you at 0800 hours for your next treatment... Captain." He almost laughed.

"How many of these stupid treatments do I need?" Jim moaned, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. "It's really hot in there."

"Until you're like flat Champaign." McCoy answered as he watched Jim sulk out of sickbay. The best thing about these scanners was McCoy could see everywhere Jim was just by flicking on his PADD.


	4. C is for Cave In

_**Authors Note:**_

 _My apologies this one took so long! I had to return to work and life got a bit busy with the kids being off school/nursery. Here's C is for Cave In!_

 _See how many 'Easter Eggs' (references) to Star Trek V you can spot!_  
 _Thank you all for the extremely kind reviews. I hope they continue to come :)_

 _This chapter is based just after Into Darkness._

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

 **C is for Cave In**

"Our mission is simple! Enjoy some much needed shore leave." Jim declared what little was left of the crew on the Enterprise. After their run in with Khan, the crew had been given some much needed shore leave on Earth, while their captain and ship recovered. Jim had been discharged from the hospital a few weeks ago after some pretty intense treatment and was already back on board his ship checking in with his crew that hadn't left for leave yet.

"That's not really a mission is it, Jim." McCoy mumbled, standing behind him on the bridge.

"Oh leave it Bones." Jim said shrugging his friend off. "I hope you're still going to be joining Spock and me on our little camping trip?"

"All that time in space, getting on each other's nerves. And what do we do when shore leave comes along? We spend it together." Bone mumbled, not feeling overly excited about the thought of sleeping on the ground.

"Other people, Bones. Not us." Jim said, waving his finger around.

"You try and stop me being there. No doubt you'll end up needing a doctor anyway." McCoy said, stepping away from Jim who was still waving his fingers in the air.

"Bones! I'm actually emotionally hurt. You seem to be wishing injuries on me now. If you're lonely in sickbay I'm sure I could arrange a few new nurses to join you." Jim grinned, McCoy was always an easy target when it came to winding someone up.

"The crew I have are fine, thank you Jim. However the accident prone Captain I just so happen to know… and anyway you've only been out of the hospital a matter of weeks. You still need monitoring." McCoy was serious for a second, before he released the kid was just teasing him.

Jim just rolled his eyes. "Oh Bones, your faith in me is soul destroying."

 **oOo**

Jim, McCoy and Spock were the last to leave their ship in the docking station. Having ensured all the crew left before them, well, all apart from Mr. Scott, who insisted he oversaw any repairs and upgrades they did to his ship. They boarded their shuttle craft and headed out to the large woods in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by huge mountains and seemed to be completely secluded from the world, apart from the communicators they took with them.

They soon set up their old fashioned tents with Spock watching on. Jim and McCoy laughed between them as they watched Spock attempt to read the instructions. Clearly the Vulcan had never been camping before. He did however, manage to start a campfire for them to sit around.

As the sun slowly began to set on the men, McCoy was the first to stand up and access the food supply they had brought down with them. He pulled out a can of beans, followed by an arrangement of spices. Spock couldn't help but observe the doctor. "Bipodal seeds, Doctor?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Beans, Spock. But no ordinary beans." He said, waving the tin around like an expert. "These are from a special Southern recipe handed down by my father. And if you stick your Vulcan nose up at these, you're not only insulting me, but generations of McCoys."

Spock looked on. "In that case, Doctor, I have little choice but to sample your beans."

Jim let out a small laugh at the pair. It felt nice to be able to relax after being suck in Starfleet General for the last few weeks. The air was clean and fresh and he continued to take deep breaths in enjoying the pine scent from the trees around them. He finally felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders.

They all enjoyed their beans prepared by McCoy, who was unsurprisingly smug at the fact everyone, including Spock, enjoyed them. Jim took the empty tins they used for plates and washed them in a small stream they camped close to. It didn't take long for him to remember the marshmallows he stashed away. He picked them out of his bag and carried them over to the fire with three sticks for each of them, not knowing if Spock would dare to try those next.

"Now you're talking!" McCoy said, spotting the bag in Jim's hands.

They each took a stick. Both McCoy and Jim instantly stuck a marshmallow on the end and roasted it over the fire. Spock watched the pair's curious behaviour, before copying them both. Taking both Jim and McCoy by surprise.

"What are you doing?" Jim asked Spock, watching him fill a stick with 5 marshmallows.

"I am preparing to toast a marsh melon." Spock replied, moving his stick over the fire.

McCoy almost snorted. "Well, I'll be damned. A marsh melon. Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Before leaving the ship, I consulted the computer library to familiarize myself with the customs associated with "camping out"." Spock explained. Not realising the ship's computers were under heavy repair.

"Well, tell me, Spock. What do you do after we toast the marsh - er, marsh melons?" McCoy asked, holding back his laugher.

"We consume them." Spock answered logically.

McCoy rolled his eyes. "I know we consume them. I mean after that."

"Oh. I believe we are required to engage in a ritual known as the sing-a-long." Spock said seriously.

Jim and McCoy both looked at each other and practically burst out laughing. "Sure Spock, we will have a sing-a-long, just for you."

 **oOo**

Jim was the first awake that morning, he was determined to watch the sunrise from the top of one of the surrounding mountains. He packed his climbing gear and quietly left the camp, as far as he was aware, McCoy hadn't notice him nor Spock, who was quietly meditating around the camp fire.

He wasn't going to lie to himself, climbing after what he had been through with Khan was hard. His muscles had wasted away from the weeks of bedrest, not to mention the two weeks he was stuck in a coma. Maybe he was pushing himself too far? But then what Starfleet captain doesn't push himself to be the best? He powered through his breaking point, the sweat dripped from his body as he neared the top. It had taken him longer than he had realised but he managed to climb to as near to the top as his body would let him. He perched on the thick ledge and watched the sun rise, admiring the beauty for it all. The air was thin – but breathable. He laid down with his feet hanging over the edge and debated soaking in the morning sun from up high, until he noticed the echo of his name being called.

"GOD DAMMIT JIM! ARE YOU INSANE? YOU HAVE MEDS TO TAKE! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO TAKE THEM FROM UP THERE?"

McCoy was pissed, but Jim couldn't help but laugh to himself at his friend. He looked over the mountain edge, holding onto the sides with his hands noticing how Bones had come alone.

"I'll be down in a minute!" He called back, maybe he would have to save the sunbathing for another time.

McCoy couldn't believe what he was seeing. "You'll have a great time, Bones. You'll enjoy your shore leave. You'll relax." You call this relaxing? I'm a nervous wreck." He muttered to himself angrily, quoting Jim back from when they first spoke of camping in the hospital.

Jim looked around, his body still ached from the climb up and he really didn't feel up to climbing back down, he would easily end up falling and that would just set McCoy off further.

"Captain! I believe there is an easier way down the mountain if you enter the cave to your right." Spock called up, holding a tricorder in his hands.

"You brought a tricorder with you? I'll tell you one thing, Spock: You never cease to amaze me" McCoy said, noticing Spock had joined him.

Spock looked at McCoy. "Nor I, myself."

Jim looked back over the mountain. "When the hell did he get there?" he muttered to himself before calling back down. "Thanks Spock. I'm on my way down now!" He stood up, not noticing the cave to his right before, that being said he didn't really have the time to look around when he reached the top anyway. Jim stepped into the cave, regretting not bringing a bigger torch, luckily he had a small head one that he used to make his way to the mountain before the sun rise earlier. He took a dry gulp of forming saliva before noticing how small and narrow the cave actually was. What didn't help was that he didn't even have a scanner with him, who knows what lived in there.

He slowly made his way down, noticing the level ground slowly forming into a downwards hill. The walls moved closer together, it was getting narrower but he could squeeze past if he tried hard enough. It wasn't long before he remembered he had his communicator on his waist. He stopped to catch his breath, the path was far too narrow for him to sit down so he just lent against the wall. He managed to flick his communicator open, holding it close to him.

"Kirk to Camp." He said, taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to stop panting.

"Spock here. Are you okay, Captain?" he buzzed back.

"Spock, we are on shore leave. Call me Jim." Jim smiled. He couldn't fault his loyalty. "I could really do with some water. Don't suppose that tricorder you snuck out with you can pick up any supply?" Jim said, still hiding his pants.

"According to the scans, Captain. There is a large supply of water running between the cave walls. If you were to access this, it would be safe for human consumption." Spock said, checking his tricorder results. Neither he nor McCoy refused to move from the base of the mountain.

"Thanks Spock." He said, rolling his eyes at the fact Spock had called him captain even though he said not to. "I'll check in again soon. Kirk out." He flicked his communicator shut and tried to figure out how he was going to break the wall, until he remembered he had a small phaser he refused to leave his ship without.

"He sounds terrible. Spock, where's the entrance to the cave, I'm going in." McCoy said, looking across the mountain walls, not seeing an entrance.

"It is illogical to follow the Captain up, doctor. The path he is following is too narrow to walk together." Spock said.

They both watched the bottom of the mountain. Waiting for their captain to appear but he didn't.

Jim fired his phaser forwards and hoped it hit a wall. The beam hit the wall in front and Jim listened silently for the trickling of water, however it didn't follow. The walls started to rumble and Jim instantly knew it wasn't going to be good.

He attempted to raise his hands above his head to shield himself from incoming rocks that had started to fall, but the walls beside him were too narrow. It didn't take long for the rest of the narrow passage to lose its structure and before Jim could attempt to run out, a larger rock fell from the cave roof and hit him straight on the head with force. He collapsed to floor, landing in a heaped pile from the lack of floor space as the rest of the rocks on top of him. His eyes were forced shut as the darkening of unconsciousness consumed him.

 **oOo**

"Did you hear that?" McCoy instantly turned to Spock, of course he heard it, what a stupid thing to say.

Spock picked up his tricorder and scanned the mountain. "It appears the captain used his phaser to access the water, however it has caused the structure of the mountain to weaken."

"Is he ok?" McCoy could feel his heart in his chest beating.

"I have his life sign. Although it is weaker than before. It is possible that the Captain may have become trapped." Spock continued to scan his tricorder.

"Well is he or isn't he?" McCoy threw his bag of meds, which were intended for Jim, to the floor and ran closer to the mountain, finally spotting the slender entrance. He went to walk inside but noticed the smaller rocks already falling from the roof. "Jim! Can you hear me?!" his voice echoed through the entrance, causing more rocks to fall.

"Doctor! You must remain silent or risk more rocks falling on top of the captain." Spock said, pulling McCoy away from the cave entrance.

"Well one of us has got to go in there and get him out!" McCoy said, moving closer to the entrance to volunteer himself.

"Then it shall be me. I have noted the location of the captain. You are of more use to treat Jim when I return with him." Spock said, handing the tricorder to McCoy.

McCoy fell silent. He had to agree, after all he wouldn't trust Spock to treat Jim anyway. He slowly nodded, giving Spock his seal of approval before he watched the Vulcan enter the small cave entrance.

 **oOo**

It was quite lucky that Vulcans were used to intense caves with little oxygen and immense heat. It didn't take Spock long at all to locate the Captain, who was still crumpled up in a tight ball covered in small rocks.

"Captain." Spock whispered, slowly bending his knees and positioning himself to be able to get down to Jim. Although there was no reply.

Spock carefully moved the rocks away from Jim's body, relieving his unconscious face. Spock just about managed to check Jim's pulse before managing to lift him up. He dragged Jim out slowly, being sure to do so quietly in case of further rock's falling. Jim's head lolled around helplessly through the tight path.

Spock soon felt the sunlight on his body and laid Jim on the soft grass away from the cave entrance. McCoy was already waiting with his meds and tricorder ready for scanning.

"Looks like he's just got away with a concussion and a few lacerations on his face." McCoy said reading the scanner results. "I need to get that wound covered." He said, spotting a large gash on Jim's forehead surrounded in dry blood and dirt.

Suddenly a loud crashing sound crashed by the cave entrance, completely sealing them and covering all the men in a light dusting of sand.

"You did well to get him out in time." McCoy said, clearing his throat. "Let's get him back to camp." He suggested before injecting Jim with a small selection of hypos.

Spock rose an eyebrow at the doctor's sudden treatment plan.

"They were his morning's meds. It made sense to give them to him now before he wakes up. I can't deal with the argument." McCoy said defending his actions.

"I was not judging your treatment plan, doctor." Spock said, before picking Jim back up and carrying him back to the camp.

 **oOo**

"No Spock. The words are 'Life is but a dream.'" McCoy argued.

"But Doctor, life is not a dream." Spock defended.

"It's a song, Spock!" McCoy continued, raising his voice slightly.

The pair were sitting around the campfire tucking into their beans McCoy had prepared again, it seemed that was about the only thing he had brought with them to cook with.

Jim could hear the pair arguing and it didn't take him long to attempt to open his eyes. He expected the sunlight to be far too powerful as he squeezed them closed, however it was now nightfall and he was welcomed by the sight of twinkling stars.

He tried to sit up, but an overpowering dizzy sensation stopped him as it covered his eyesight.

"Let that be a lesson to you." McCoy said, sitting next to Jim with his tricorder out. "No more sneaking out of camp for you. You can't escape your meds that way."

Jim laid back, feeling the softness of the pillow under his pounding head. He lifted a hand to instinctively touch his head but McCoy's hands stopped him.

"Not a good idea. You've got yourself a pretty nasty cut. I've managed to sew it back together but you'll need a couple of rounds with the dermal regenerator when we are back to the ship." McCoy explained.

"What happened?" Jim just about managed to ask.

"You foolishly weakened the cave looking for water. You've got a slight concussion to go with that cut. So no moving for a while." McCoy said, putting the tricorder away after being pleased with the results.

Jim couldn't help but smile, remembering what he had just heard. "Were you two singing?" he whispered.

"Spock disagrees with the words. Would you believe he's questioning an old fashioned nursery rhyme that's been around longer than he has?" McCoy asked, forgetting the seriousness of Jim's health.

"Oh I believe it." Jim said, rolling his eyes. "Now if I could just –" he started to prop himself up using his shoulders, but was stopped again.

"Lay still, you should be fine to continue our little camping trip, however you need to rest. Its shore leave, Jim. That means rest and relaxation. Not overdoing it by climbing mountains or giving your doctor a heart attack in doing so!" McCoy said playfully winding him up.

"Row, Row, Row your boat…" Jim started to sing. Knowing he wasn't going to get his own way.

"My god, he's delusional." McCoy said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, Doctor. I believe he is participating in the sing-a-long." Spock said, stopping him from picking up the tricorder again.

"Unbelievable, he knocks himself out and still has the energy to sing camp fire songs." McCoy replied, rolling his eyes.

"Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!" Jim continued to sing, ignoring his friends.


	5. D is for Daggers

_**Authors Note:**_

 _Thank you all for your continuing support and reviews. This one was HARD. Its really difficult to come up with different stories. I'm really disappointed with this one, its not my best work. I hope that E will be a lot better.  
I don't blame you if you don't enjoy this one!  
_

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

 **D is for Daggers**

Jim squinted his eyes, the harsh sun light being blasted onto him was enough to send someone blind, if he spent enough time down on the planet anyway. Spock, who was showing no signs of struggling thanks to his second set of eyelids, kept quiet. He spent his time focusing all his energy on moving forwards over the rugged mountain path they were following.

Jim Kirk and Spock were both beamed down to planet Gamma VI, to observe the newly formed village life that had started on the planet. The planets inhabitants were peaceful beings and physically much like humans. However they were evolving quickly and they had already adapted to the suns harsh rays.

Jim and Spock had gathered their intelligence and were now headed back up to their prearranged transporter coordinates. They were supposed to observe from the same point they beamed down to, but Jim being Jim, managed to drop his communicator down the mountain edge. The planets mountains were full of iron and other strong elements that interfered with the transporter signals, which meant they could only be transported from the same point they beamed down to. Which gave the pair little choice but to retrieve it or risk being discovered by the villagers, luckily Jim managed to find it hidden away in a small shrub without being detected, or so he thought anyway.

"Remind me to bring sun glasses down next time." Jim said panting as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his golden sleeve.

Spock continued on without speaking. He was used to these types of temperatures and terrain from Vulcan. However, New Vulcan wasn't as hot. It had been a while since he needed to use his inner eyelids.

Jim rolled his eyes, noting his Vulcan friend was ignoring his moaning. "Let's take a rest here." He suggested, sitting on a rock on the edge of the path.

Spock looked down on Jim, who was clearly fatigued. "It is unwise to rest here, Captain."

Jim looked up at Spock, still squinting his eyes from the bright sunlight. "Oh yeah, whys that?" he managed to breathe out between pants.

"From what I have observed earlier, Captain. The villagers were preparing their weapons for a hunt. We could be following their hunting path and leaving tracks for them to follow." Spock explained.

Jim's smirk dropped and he pushed himself up to his feet. "I hate it when you're right sometimes. You know that?"

Spock ignored Jim's question, as he heard rustling from behind them. "Captain, perhaps it is too late."

Jim looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"We are being tracked." Spock answered.

"Oh that's just fantastic." Jim rolled his eyes again. He flicked open his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise, do you read?" he spat down it, hoping they were close enough to their beam up coordinates, however the communicator just replied back with static. "We are still out of range." He said, closing his communicator and placing it back on his waist.

"Captain I suggest seeking somewhere to hide until the group pass us. Judging on your current physical state you will be unable to out run them." Spock said, moving forwards away from Kirk to access the area.

Jim couldn't reply. A sudden sharp stabbing feeling in his back caught him off guard. He had no choice to let a small whimper out before it happened again. It felt like time had slowed as he heard a sharp object pierce straight through his flesh. "SPOCK!" he managed to scream out before falling forwards off the rock he was still perched on.

Thanks to advanced Vulcan hearing, Spock was almost instantly at Jim's side, he looked down at Jim's back, seeing two small dagger handles sticking out. "Captain, can you move? We must retreat. I believe I have found a small hiding just ahead."

"I'd like to see you try and move with something digging into your back." Jim said with gritted teeth.

Spock grabbed hold of Jim's arm and practically pulled him up to his feet, dragging him along to the small hide away he found. He forced Jim to lean on his side against the dusty wall. "I will erase our tracks." He said before quickly rubbing their foot prints out on the sandy floor.

Jim hissed through the pain in his back, unsure of what he had been stabbed with still. Although he could feel the weight of whatever it was, still inside him. He grabbed his communicator and fiddled about with the settings, "Kirk to Enterprise. Do… you…read?" he managed to pant out. "Medical… emergency… beam…up." Jim's eyes grew heavy. Everything in his head was screaming out for him to keep his eyes open in case Spock didn't return, he would be stuck here until he bled to death.

"Captain? We read you but are unable to get a lock on your coordinates. Are you able to return to the prearranged coordinates?" Uhura buzzed back through the communicator, however her voice went unheard. Jim's body had failed to stay alert enough as small pools of blood dripped down his back. The welcoming comfort of darkness brushed over his eyes as he slowly fell into an unconscious heap on the floor.

 **oOo**

Spock returned back to the cave expecting to see Jim awake and waiting for him, however he underestimated the damage caused from the daggers. He quickly checked for his pulse on his neck and felt a strange satisfying feeling when he noted it at a fast, but steady rate.

He had watched the hunters from the village search for Jim but they failed to find the cave he was hiding in. Spock had made sure to leave a set of footprints in the opposite direction to it and clearly his plan had worked.

He quickly spotted the communicator in the captain's hand and grabbed it. "Spock to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here. Your signal is weak, Mr Spock." Uhura buzzed back, causing the static to buzz in his ears.

"The captain has become injured. Can you get a lock on our current location?"

"There is too much interference, Mr. Scott is working in the transporter to try and divert the interference however it's not going to plan. Is there no way the captain can travel?" Uhura asked, forgetting she was speaking to a senior officer.

Spock looked down at Jim's limp body. He was running out of options.

"Alert Doctor McCoy that the Captain has multiple stab wounds to his back and has lost a lot of blood. I can risk moving him however may dislodge the weapon." Spock continued to speak down the communicator, even though the static was uncomfortable for his sensitive Vulcan hearing.

"Do what you have to do, Spock. We await your next transmission. Uhura out."

Spock flicked Jim's communicator closed and clipped it to his waist. He scooped Jim up into his arms and managed to position the captain over his shoulder into the fireman's carry with ease, and more importantly without dislodging one of the knifes sticking out his back.

 **oOo**

Although Spock knew it wasn't possible, it had felt as if time had slowed as he made his slow upwards journey to the top of the mountain with Jim slumped over his shoulder. The heat blasted down onto him and he soon found himself sticking to the shaded areas to protect the captain from further injury, such as sun burn.

When he had finally reached the top of the mountain he placed the captain down, leaning him against one of the walls in the shade, protected a little from the sun. "Spock to Enterprise. We have reached the beam up coordinates. Awaiting transport."

"Stand by, Mr Spock." Uhura said back, the static had lifted away making it much easier to understand the person on the end of the comm.

The transporter tingle swept over him as he watched the captain's body disappear in front of him in seconds. When he opened his eyes again he was greeted by the familiar surroundings of the transporter room, a welcomed sight. He stepped off the pad, as McCoy and two nurses pushed past him to get to Jim.

"What in god's name happened down there? Get him into Sickbay, now!" McCoy ordered his staff, reading the results from the tricorder he used to scan Jim the second his body appeared.

"The captain and I were spotted by hunter, we had little time to flea before the captain was attacked." Spock explained.

McCoy was too busy worry about what Spock was saying but took it all in anyway as he watched his nurses carry Jim to sickbay on the gurney.

"That doesn't really explain the heat stroke and dehydration though, or the possible retinal damage caused by exposure to the suns UV, does it?" he asked the Vulcan as he passed him on his way out the transporter room, not expecting an answer.

 **oOo**

As McCoy walked into Sickbay, his well trained staff were already cutting Jim's golden shirt off. They had kept him lying on his stomach with the small daggers sticking out his back. McCoy moved closer to Jim, inspecting the dagger handles sticking out of his friends back.

"Any idea of how big the blade is?" he asked, looking at his head Nurse Chapel for the answer.

Nurse Chapel passed him a PADD. They had taken an x-ray the second they were able to. To check if the knives had caused any internal issues. McCoy took a deep sigh. "Looks like they missed his Kidneys and his Lungs. The kid couldn't get any luckier if he had tried. The daggers are short, we should be able to remove them and use the dermal regenerator to minimise the bleeding. Prep him for surgery please, nurse."

"Yes doctor." Nurse Chapel said, taking the PADD from the senior doctor.

 **oOo**

McCoy grabbed a chair and pulled it across the sickbay to Jim's bed. His surgery had gone without a hitch and he had removed both small daggers from Jim's back without any issues. Jim was going to be sore, stiff and going to have to get used to the idea of keeping still and staying in sickbay for at least a week… but McCoy was positive Jim wasn't stupid enough to try and escape, not with the amount of pain he was going to be in anyway.

He checked Jim's IV's before sitting down, the stupid kid was having to be pumped with liquids to rehydrate him as well as antibiotics to reduce the chance of infection. Who knows how many animals or creatures those knives would have killed without being cleaned.

Jim's head lolled to the side slightly and he started to take deeper breaths. Each breath caused a shooting pain to rush through his body. His eyes snapped open and he attempted to sit up, but the pain stopped him as he crashed back down onto the softness of the biobed.

"Jim! Take it easy!" McCoy grabbed Jim's arms, keeping him still as panic filled his head. "Deep breaths, kid."

Jim's eyesight locked onto McCoy's dulled blue eyes and he copied the doctor as together they took deep breaths.

"Feel better now?" McCoy asked, lifting his grip from Jim's arms.

Jim didn't speak, just nodded his head slightly.

"You're in sickbay. Spock got you to the landing coordinates." McCoy started to explain, watching Jim as he looked around confused. "You were stabbed in the back… twice."

Jim wanted to sit up, he hated being flat on his back normally, let alone in sickbay. It made him feel insecure. McCoy soon noticed and grabbed the settings for the bed. "It might hurt if you try to sit up, but I know how much you hate being stuck on your back."

Jim took a deep breath as the bed moved upwards, the pain shot through him suddenly, causing him to force both hands into tight fists. It felt like an eternity before he was comfortable again.

McCoy gave him a quick shot of pain relief to ease his new position.

"Why couldn't you give me that before you moved the bed?" Jim panted through his pain as the warm rush of pain medication made its way through his body.

McCoy rolled his eyes looking at the PADD with Jim's notes on. "Cheer up, Kid. Your going to be stuck in here a while."

"Not a chance." Jim teased, feeling light headed after his medication. "This is good stuff." He said in his squeaky voice.

"Only the best for you, kid. Now get some rest." McCoy grinned, watching as Jim slowly closed his eyes. "Good old morphine. Always works a charm."


	6. E is for Exhaustion

_**Authors Note:**_

 _Thank you all for your wonderful comments and support when I wasn't too impressed with D. You've helped me overcome that hurdle to hopefully write an E which you'll enjoy.I quite enjoyed writing this one!  
Its based just after the 2009 Star Trek Film, they are on their way back to Starfleet after escaping the black hole and destroying Nero's ship.  
I had to rewatch the 2009 movie just to write this! (it was a good excuse to watch it!)_

 _Let me know what you think :)_

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

 **E is for Exhaustion**

Jim Kirk slumped down in his captain's chair and massaged his temples with his knuckles. It had been one hell of a journey. He wasn't even supposed to be on Enterprise and now found himself captain. There was so much to think about and just thinking about that made his forming headache worse.

They were now traveling back to Starfleet on impulse power, and had been for about 6 hours now, having practically destroyed the engines thanks to Nero. But at least they had escaped from a black hole… and kinda saved Earth. How many people could say they've done that on their first day as captain?

His thoughts soon moved past his headache and onto Captain Pike, who was technically still Captain, however unable to perform. McCoy was doing his best to treat him in sickbay, but ideally he needed to be in Starfleet General. There just wasn't enough equipment on board to deal with whatever creature was attacking his insides. Jim had thought about going down to see if there was anything he could do to help, but he knew he was helping by staying in command and seeing the ship made it home.

He continued to massage away at his headache as more thoughts of the day's events pushed their way into his mind. The throbbing pain around his neck was a small reminder of the fact he had been strangled twice already. He hated to think of the bruising it would leave. Not only that but if Bones wasn't so busy with Captain Pike then he knew he would have his arse in sickbay already. He shuddered at the thought of going down there now. There wasn't a chance he was leaving his post.

Spock was already meditating in his quarters. Jim would really appreciate just having a shower and changing into some fresh clothes, that would probably soothe his headache and growing fatigue. But the trouble with being on board a ship which you weren't technically supposed to be on… meant no assigned quarters. He took a deep breath and opened his red blood shot eyes, looking around at the cracks around the bridge. It really was some kind of a miracle that they all escaped unharmed.

"Are you ok, Captain?" Sulu noticed how the captain was obviously struggling. Nobody had any idea of what had happened to him over on Nero's ship but judging by the forming bruises on his face and neck it wasn't good.

"I'm fine." Kirk practically whispered. He quickly cleared his throat with a cough before speaking again. "I'm fine, Sulu. Thanks." It was slightly awkward. Even the crew could see that he obviously wasn't fine.

"If you say so, sir." Sulu mumbled, turning his chair back around to watch out the broken screen in front of him.

"How long until we reach Starfleet?" Kirk asked, in a stronger voice than before. Although it hurt him more to speak like that.

"If we continue on impulse power, about 18 hours." Sulu said, checking his consoles to confirm his calculations.

Kirk's head throbbed more at the thought of 18 hours with no sleep, not even a chance to rest. But that's what being captain meant and he wasn't going to give it up without a fight. He hit the communication button on the arm of his chair. "Kirk to Engineering."

"Scott here, Captain. Are ye not resting up?" The Scotsman asked.

Kirk rolled his eyes, not realising it was actually make them ache more. "Do you need a hand with repairs or not?" He muttered quietly not allowing the rest of the bridge crew to hear his frustration.

"Aye Laddy. If you're feelin' up to it." Scotty said back, not noticing he had hit a nerve with Jim.

"I'll be there in 5. Kirk out." He said, flicking off his open comm. "Mr. Sulu – you have the con. Any problems I'll be in engineering seeing if we can work out a way to get us home quicker."

"Yes…yes sir." Sulu stuttered. Everyone could see how much Jim was struggling and he was now off making repairs. Not the best of ideas. He exchanged looks with Chekov, who was equally worried about their new captain.

They watched as Jim lent heavily on the captain's chair to pick himself up and practically dragged his feet to the turbo lift. He looked like hell. The second the lift doors closed he knew what he had to do and the approving nod from Chekov was enough to approve his actions. "Sulu to Sickbay."

"McCoy here. What is it Sulu?" The grumpy doctor spoke down the comm. At least he sounded rested.

"The captain is defiantly not himself. I think you might want to pay him a little visit." Sulu suggested.

"That's son of a bitch. I requested for him to be seen while I was on break. I'm guessing he didn't bother." McCoy was now pissed. He had just returned from a much needed break to find out that the one job he had left in the capable hands of the other doctors hadn't been carried out. He couldn't blame his staff though – no doubt it was Jim that failed to show up for the appointment he had made for him. "Where is he?"

"He's helping Mr. Scott in the engineering." Sulu answered his question.

"Thanks Sulu. McCoy out." He said flicking off the Comm. "That god damn idiot. Wants to try and fix the ship on 24 hours with no sleep? What's he trying to do? Kill us?!" McCoy ranted to himself as he packed his med kit full of pain relief, sedative and his trusty tricorder. "Nurse Chapel, prepare a private bay for Kirk."

Nurse Chapel looked confused, she couldn't see him in the sickbay. "Sir?"

"I'm going to get him." McCoy said, rolling his eyes as he exited the sickbay and headed down to engineering.

 **oOo**

The doors opened to Engineering and McCoy was treated to the smell of smoke and sweat. Not the nicest thing to experience, but wow. It was hot down there. Men and women were running around with all sorts of tools in desperation to get the ship functioning again. McCoy pushed his way through the red shirts to attempt to find Kirk, it didn't take long to find him, he knew he would be somewhere with Scotty, and he was right.

He was laying on the floor with his head in a console. Scotty was above tapping away on a PADD and giving him further instructions.

"Aye, the blue one, Captain." He said without noticing the angry doctor moving towards him.

McCoy practically threw his med kit on the floor and folded his arms like a disapproving parent.

"What the hell is going on?"

McCoy's angry voice made Jim jump, causing him to knock his head on the console slightly. His heart sank and a pang of guilt hit in straight in the chest as he pulled himself out of the console. "What are you doing here? Is it Captain Pike? Is he ok?" Jim said, pushing himself up to his feet.

McCoy looked Jim up and down and tutted. He was covered in dirt from god knows what and sweat drenched his head, leaving a shine on his forehead. The Starfleet basic's he had originally changed Jim into when they boarded the ship were torn and sweaty. At least he was wearing goggles to protect his eyes from whatever he was doing down there.

"Jim you look like hell." He said, grabbing his tricorder out his bag on the floor.

"Oh don't start, Bones. Is Captain Pike alright?" Jim said, lifted his goggles up and placing them on top of his head, leaving Jim with panda eyes.

McCoy looked at Jim's bright red blood shot eyes. "Pike is fine. I've done all I can for him here, he's comfortable. We will have to finish his treatment in Starfleet General. Now can we talk about you now?" The results of the tricorder scan were worrying McCoy, not that he would let Jim know that.

"I'm fine. What is with everyone?" he said, leaning heavily on the console.

Scotty noticed how Jim could hardly stand up without leaning against something and was starting to feel guilty from keeping Jim from resting. "Maybe you should listen to the doctor, captain."

"Yes, listen to your doctor. Sickbay now." McCoy said, nodding at Scotty.

"I can't. We've got repairs to make." Jim said, picking up a screw driver and winking at Scotty.

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept? Or even drank some water?" McCoy asked, watching Jim attempt to lower himself back down to the console opening.

Jim didn't answer. Although he did think about it, he couldn't remember the last time he did any of those… apart from slept. That stupid sedative had knocked him out for at least an hour after McCoy had given him an allergic reaction.

McCoy placed a hand on Jim's shoulder. "Just come and get some sleep. You'll feel better. I've got a private area in sickbay set up for you. I know you don't have any quarters. If you like I'll let you use my shower afterwards. You know the Admirals and Commodores will want to see you the second you get off the ship. You want to look your best." McCoy spoke in his softest tone, well as soft as he could make it over the noise of Engineering.

Jim didn't want to show his weakness to anyone. He could easily manage another 18 hours, in fact he could probably make it less if he stayed in Engineering to help. He stood up and moved McCoy's hand from his shoulder. "I'm fine." He said, frowning.

"Then you give me no choice." McCoy said, sneakily preparing a hypo away from Jim's eyes. The second Jim turned his back to his Doctor, he stuffed into directly into his neck. Causing Jim to flinch and turn back around.

"God dammnit, Bones!" Jim practically shouted before his eyes rolled back and the dark welcoming world of slumber consumed him.

Scotty, although unprepared, managed to catch Jim before he lost his balance as his knees weakened.

"Nice catch." McCoy said, putting his tricorder and hypo spray back into his bag.

"Some warning would have been nice." Scotty said, adjusting Jim's weight in his arms.

"Let's get him to sickbay." McCoy said, lifting up Jim's feet.

 **oOo**

Scotty didn't want to admit how breathless having to hoist a limp captain Kirk up to Sickbay made him, but he had trouble hiding it.

They carefully placed him on the biobed in Sickbay that Nurse Chapel had prepared for him as instructed and the monitor above the bed came alive, reading all his vitals.

"Thanks Mr Scott. I doubt I'd have managed that on my own."

"Aye, no problem, Doc." Scotty panted. "I'll be returning to engineering now. If he asks… I had no part in… this." He said gesturing to Kirk on the bed.

McCoy smiled. "Yeah sure, I'll take the blame."

Even Scotty knew how pissed Kirk would be at McCoy and he had only known him a few hours. There wasn't a chance he was getting blamed for that, especially as he didn't want to go back to Delta Vega.

McCoy opened up his PADD, reading what further damage Kirk had managed to sustain to himself while he rested and just shook his head.

"It cant be that bad." Nurse Chapel said, sneaking up behind her senior officer.

"Well, judging by those bruises on his neck, he experienced yet more neck trauma over on Nero's ship. As well as being beaten to a pulp. He's not eaten or drank a thing since we left Starfleet." McCoy sighed, looking over his friend. "He's too busy looking after everyone else to look after himself."

"Well we better take care of him now. While we can." She smiled, remembering his previous escape from sickbay.

"Let's start him off on some replacement fluids. I'll sedate him further that should give him at least six hours of interrupted sleep. We've got plenty of time before we reach Starfleet. I think that's his biggest concern." McCoy said as he pushed more sedative into Jim's neck.

"Yes, Doctor. I'll prepare an IV." Nurse Chapel said, still smiling. She always saw the positive side to everything. McCoy liked that about her.

 **oOo**

Six hours soon passed and just like clock-work, Jim sat bolt upright, his IV tugging at his hand as he did.

"What the hell?" he practically shouted, feeling the tugging pain in his hand.

"Ah, Jim. You're awake. How do you feel?" McCoy said, walking over to him.

"Betrayed, humiliated, disgraced…" Jim started, tugging at the IV in his hand.

"Leave it alone, Jim. You were dehydrated, that nausea you didn't tell me about? Has it gone?" McCoy asked, making notes on his PADD.

Jim crossed his arms and stopped to think… that nausea had lifted, his headache was practically gone and he had to admit he felt a little better after his forced nap.

McCoy just smirked when he noticed he was right. "Next time you get held up by your neck, you fancy mentioning it to me? You were lucky this time, but any more neck trauma and your wind pipe could collapse. So don't go pissing anyone else off."

"When can I go?" Jim asked, looking around to see Sickbay practically empty, apart from Pike who was sleeping across the room.

"Ideally I'd like you to rest for the duration of our trip home, but as you're stinking up my sickbay… I'll let you go now." McCoy said, reaching for Jim's hand to remove the IV. "But. You've gotta go take a shower and promise – if you start feeling like you need a break, use my quarters and take five. Seeing as you don't have your own."

"I promise, Bones. Now just let me go and take a shower." He said, swinging his legs around off the bed.

McCoy quickly removed the IV, leaving the smallest of blood marks on Jim's hand which wouldn't take long to heal itself.

"Go! And remember Jim, my medical authority out ranks everyone." McCoy winked at Jim, but it went unnoticed, Jim was practically running out the sickbay.


	7. F is for Flu

_**Authors Note:**_

 _Sorry its taken me a few days to write this, I've been completely stressed out at work but I'm finally off for the next few days. So here is F is for Flu. It was supposed to be Flu, The Andorian Kind, but I got Flu mixed up with Shingles! So I've changed my S and made this just a plain Flu one. See if you can spot the Phlox (Enterprise Fans) quote! Sorry its shorter, but there's only so much detail you can go in with flu without it getting boring._

 _Thank you all so much for following me, following this story and most of all for your wonderful reviews. They are incredible and I hope they continue!_

 _Tomorrow is G! This one took me and ThisOldGirl, a while to think of, but I think its a neat little twist on the medical file :)_

* * *

 **Chapter Six**  
 **F is for Flu**

Jim sat bolt upright right in his bed, panting heavily until he caught his breath. He untwisted himself from his damp sheets and threw them on the floor. "Computer Lights 80%" he mumbled, every word sent a screech of pain down his throat. The lights instantly lit up the room causing him to wince away in pain, covering his sight with his arm. "Computer… lights 20%" Speaking caused him to cough sending more pain down his throat.

He almost fell back to lay back down on his bed, stretching his aching arms and legs out using up all the possible space. It was so damn hot, he could feel himself practically sticking to the bed, he even thought about stripping off his basic's he liked to sleep in and laying here naked… but soon changed his mind.

Jim looked to his small bedside table, most people kept a photo of family or friends on theirs, however Jim kept a small clock on his. He squinted, checking the time, groaning when he realised he had only been asleep a few hours. "Fucking hell. 03:40" Jim muttered to himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He couldn't work out why his body ached so much, the day hadn't been the busiest. Maybe he had just overdone it at the gym or something.

A sudden chill overcame him, causing him to shiver. He was starting to be grateful that he hadn't stripped off after all. He attempted to move to grab his sheets on the floor, but his muscled ached and hurt too much. He wondered if grabbing the sheet was really worth the aches and pains, until he shivered again. That was enough motivation to grab the sheet and wrap himself up in it.

Jim curled himself in the cool sheets like cocoon, desperately trying to keep himself warm as he continued to shiver. How was he supposed like this when it was so damn cold? His bathroom door kept catching his eyes, a shower would soon warm him up. Keep himself wrapped up, he just about managed to swing his legs off the bed and pushed himself into a sitting position, although the sudden change in elevation cause his growing headache to pulse harder. He squinted his eyes as he tried to forget the growing pain in his head.

He started to wonder if the shower was really worth it, much like grabbing his sheets off the floor, but they were worth it… so the shower had to be worth it too. He pushed himself up and steadied himself before he lost his balance and ended back on his bed. He kept his sheets wrapped tightly round him keeping any heat inside his small cocoon. He managed to shuffle his feet into the bathroom, being thankful that the lights were already dimmed for him.

He turned the shower on and wacked up the temperature, allowing steam to fill the room. He didn't notice how stuffed up his nose and sinus' felt until now. The steam allowed so much comfort to him as he took deep breaths into his nose clearing his airway. Jim would happily stay in here the rest of the night if he could. He dropped the sheet providing him his warmth and stripped off, quickly stepping into the scolding hot shower. He let the water blast down onto his aching body, providing comfort as it eased his tense muscles. He didn't want to leave the waters comfort and before he knew it 45 minutes had passed and the water was starting to run colder. He quickly rinsed off his hair and took a final deep breath before he faced the cold air again.

He grabbed an extra towel, wrapping it around himself tightly and putting the other over his head. Jim soon shuffled back out his bathroom and noticed how comfortable his bed suddenly seemed to look. He didn't even have time to think before he fell forwards onto it. The second his head hit his pillow he was asleep, giving his tired eyes a welcomed break.

 **oOo**

"God Damnit, Jim! If you don't open this door in a minute I'll break it down!" McCoy shouted at the captain's door. He hadn't showed up for his morning shift and everybody knew how unlike Jim that was. Spock soon asked McCoy to check on him.

McCoy actually had the medical override for every quarters on the ship, although he didn't like to use it on Jim… unless he really had to. He soon sighed, realising that this was going to be one of those times. He punched in the code and stepped in. It didn't take long for the smell of sweat to smack him in the face. McCoy walked over to Jim's bed and saw him lying flat on his stomach wrapped in a couple of towels, his hair was incredibly fluffy and he had a small patch of dribble on his pillow. He raised an eyebrow, not knowing if he should laugh or be worried.

He didn't want to disturb Jim, but he thought a quick with the medical tricorder wouldn't hurt. He whipped out his tricorder from his bag running the scan. He quickly looked up as a small snore escaped Jim's mouth, causing McCoy to smile. He assumed he was just catching up with some much needed sleep. It made no sense to wake him up, in the eyes of a doctor anyway.

Although the second the scan results came in he felt his heart drop. Jim was rocking a fever of 40.1 degrees and that was way too high, especially for someone who was just wrapped in a couple of towels. He had a few inflamed muscles over his body and clearly he was going to wake up with one hell of a headache. He placed his tricorder down on Jim's bare bedside table and grabbed his hypospray, loading it with a few pain medications and sticking it straight into Jim's neck, hoping to bring his temperature down. Jim didn't even flinch at the small pinch at his neck.

McCoy turned to Jim's desk in the living part of his quarters and flicked open a comm to the bridge.

"McCoy to the bridge."

"Spock here. Have you located the Captain?" Spock asked.

"Yeah, yeah I've found him. He's too sick to come to work today." McCoy replied, looking over to the sleeping figure of Jim, he still hadn't moved.

"I shall remain in command until he is well enough to return then. Thank you Doctor."

"You could at least ACT like you care, Spock. He's got an incredibly high fever. I was lucky to find him when I did." McCoy said, raising his voice slightly.

"Then perhaps you should place the captain in quarantine. As to not infect the rest of the rest of the crew." Spock spoke logically.

"He doesn't need that. It's nothing some rest can't fix. I'll alert you of any change. McCoy out." He rolled his eyes at Spock's blunt answers, wondering why he went into detail with him in the first place.

McCoy walked back over to Jim and felt his skin, although his fever had lowered his skin was becoming cold to the touch. He shook Jim a little, attempting to wake him up. "Jim, wake up. You need to get dressed."

Jim's eyes snapped open, feeling McCoy's icy cold hands on his feverish skin. They were both incredibly red and blood shot. It didn't take him long to notice he had slept in.

"Oh crap. What's the time? I have to get to the bridge." He attempted to push himself up, pulling the towel from his head and throwing it on the floor.

McCoy held up his hands, retracting them away from Jim. "Woah, hold on, kid. You're not going anywhere today."

Jim squinted his eyes as he pushed himself back into a sitting position, keeping his towel wrapped over his lower half. "Why not?" he coughed dryly.

"You have the flu." McCoy said bluntly. "You could infect the rest of the crew. So, you're stuck on bedrest until I say so."

Jim looked up at McCoy who was standing over him, his red blood shot eyes stinging slightly. "The flu? In space? How is that even possible?"

"It doesn't take much, a single sneeze into a container is enough to get the virus on-board. It can lay dormant until such time as it is released." McCoy answered, grabbing Jim some of the Starfleet basic's Jim had in his drawers and throwing them on the bed.

"We can travel faster than the speed of light. You'd think we could find a cure for the common cold." Jim huffed, trying to catch his breath. He shivered a little, not wanting to admit that getting dressed would be a good idea.

"Do you need help getting dressed?" McCoy asked, ignoring the sulking captain.

"I'll be fine." Jim coughed dryly again. "You can return to sickbay now, Doctor."

McCoy rolled his eyes. "Luckily for you, I have no patients and in case of an emergency, I can be contacted here. You really think I'm going to leave you in this state?" he said, turning his back allowing Jim his privacy.

Jim didn't want to admit how difficult it was getting dressed, even in the casuals that McCoy had given him to wear. All his body ached still and his headache, which had dulled down, was beginning to get worse again. He continued to sniff his nose to stop it running.

McCoy turned back around as Jim walked into his bathroom. While he was in there McCoy thought it would be the ideal time to change the sweaty bedding on Jim's bed, giving him a clean and fresh one to climb back into.

When Jim appeared at the bathroom door, he somehow looked worse. He leant heavily on the door frame before taking the few steps back into his bed. His eyes nearly snapped shut straight away. "Thanks Bones." He whispered, before closing them.

"No problem, kid. I'll be here with chicken soup for when you wake up. Just get some rest." He whispered back, retreating to Jim's desk to get some of his paper work done, which included updating Jim's medical file. He was just glad that in a few short days Jim would be well enough to return to the bridge… although by then it was more than likely that he would have caught the germs and be suffering himself.

 **oOo**


	8. G is for General Anaesthetic

_**Authors Note:**_

 _I was planning on doing this differently, until I realised for what I had in mind I really needed it to be Local Anaesthic. So I completely changed my mind and wrote this instead. I hope you enjoy! I've also changed H, it was Home Sickness, but now its Heat Stroke. I feel I can write a much Whumpier version that way._

 _As always - your reviews are my muse. You wonderful people leaving them encourage me to continue writing. For that - I thank you all._

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

 **G is for General Anaesthetic**

Jim sat slumped in his captain's chair. He had this slightly annoying dull pain in his stomach that he didn't want to admit to having, but it was there. It had been there all morning, and despite his best efforts to ignore it, it wasn't going away. Breathing deeply made the pain sharp, enough to take his breath away again. Which meant no sighing at Spock's constant asking if he was okay or if he needed Doctor McCoy.

He checked the time for the fifth time this shift. 1600 hours. Just one more hour and he could retreat back to his quarters and attempt to sleep off this damn pain, yeah that's all he needs. A nice long sleep. Then he would wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go again.

He took a deep breath, instantly regretting his decision to so, as the sharp pain spread down his right side. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Captain, are you quite sure you are okay?" Spock asked, spotting the captain pulling some intriguing faces.

Jim forced his eyes open, blinking through the pain. "Just… peachy. Thank you Spock." He answered, thinking carefully about his answers.

"Perhaps you would feel more comfortable if Doctor McCoy came up to the bridge?" Spock insisted, staring at the captain.

Jim placed his hand on his side, attempting to hold the pain away. "I'm fine." He snapped. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to retire to quarters early. Spock, you have the bridge." Jim forced himself up to his feet. Holding his breath to keep the spreading pain away.

Spock just raised an eyebrow at Jim's behaviour. He knew he had a habit of hiding the way he was really feeling but it made no sense that he would not seek assistance. He watched the captain move slowly off the bridge into the lift. He was clearly in more pain than he let on. The second the turbo lift doors closed he sat into the Captain's chair and opened a channel to Sickbay.

"Spock to Sickbay."

"McCoy here, what is it Spock?" McCoy was blunt and straight to the point as normal.

"The captain appears to be in distress, suffering pain in abdomen. He may require your assistance." Spock explained.

"Then send him down here. I haven't got the time to go on a wild captain chase." McCoy said, grumbling.

"Doctor, I think we can both agree that the likely hood of the captain coming down to you is unlikely." Spock answered.

McCoy rolled his eyes, he knew Spock was right, Jim hated being stuck in sickbay. He hated the vulnerability and the fact people would question his ability to take charge of the ship. McCoy never took it personally, in all honestly he preferred it when Jim wasn't in sickbay anyway. He was a pain in the arse to treat.

"If he doesn't come down before my shift ends, then I'll come and find him. I'm not going to keep chasing that stubborn son of a..." the sudden opening of the Sickbay doors stopped McCoy before he could finish his sentence. Jim practically fell through them but luckily for him Nurse Chapel was ready to help him regain his balance. She wrapped his arm around her as she led him to the nearest bio bed in sickbay.

"Doctor?" Spock broke the silence.

"Jesus Christ, Jim! You look like shit." McCoy said, flicking off the comm to Spock.

Spock raised his eyebrow again, it didn't take much to work out that Jim had actually gone to Sickbay himself. Maybe he needed to work out the odds again.

 **oOo**

Jim can't remember how he even made it down to sickbay, but the second he rose up from his captain's chair and forced his feet forwards, the growing pain in his abdomen got a lot worse. With every agonising step, the pain got worse still. He knew going back to his quarters maybe wasn't the best thing to do, that and McCoy would probably kill him… if this pain didn't first.

The second those sickbay doors opened he felt a rush of relief, he had made it. A quick shot of pain killer and he would be on his merry way. So he thought anyway.

McCoy took one look at Jim's pale and clammy skin and thought otherwise. "I hear you've had some stomach pains? Mind if I have a feel?" he asked, looking at Jim. He really did look awful. His eyes were darkened where he had clearly not slept the last 24 hours, his skin had a shine to it where he was obviously starting to become feverish and the fact he had come down to sickbay on his own was enough for McCoy to work out that this was bad.

Jim nodded, laying back on the bed. He held the right side of his abdomen tighter, trying to push the pain away.

"Is this where the pain is?" McCoy asked, gesturing at Jim's hand pushing down on his stomach.

Jim just nodded, moving his hand away.

McCoy gulped the small amount of saliva down that was building in his mouth. This was the best behaved Jim had ever been in sickbay. It had to be bad.

McCoy lifted up his golden shirt and black undershirt, expecting to see bruising or some obvious sign of something causing Jim to be this cooperative, but no. Nothing. Which meant it had to be internal.

He rubbed his hands together to warm them quickly, the last thing he wanted was Jim moaning about how cold his hands were. He placed them straight onto Jim's side and starting feeling for any obvious lumps or bumps. He felt some obvious swelling around where Jim was holding. "Jim, I need you to tell me if this hurts." He said, before applying some hard pressure to the swelling.

Jim almost cried out in pain, McCoy didn't even need an answer to work out that it hurt. He exchanged a quick glance with Nurse Chapel who was holding a tricorder. Usually McCoy would have to use the tricorder straight away with Jim, it wasn't often that he was allowed to physically examine Jim as a patient, something he much preferred to do. He nodded, allowing her to scan him.

"How long have you been in this pain, Jim?" he asked.

Jim kept his eyes closed tight, as now everything made his side hurt. "Since last night." He managed to whisper.

"and you didn't think to come and see me sooner?" McCoy teased.

"I'm here now, aren't I?" Jim grinned, keeping his eyes closed.

"Doctor." Nurse Chapel interrupted the pair. She had the results from the tricorder scan and passed them straight to McCoy.

McCoy took the tricorder, reading the results. "Dammit Jim, your appendix is about to blow. You need surgery right now."

"Will that stop the pain?" Jim whispered.

"It sure will, kid. Nurse, prepare him for emergency surgery please." McCoy said, passing her the tricorder back. He should have known he wouldn't be out here on time tonight.

McCoy turned to leave, but a tight grip had hold of his blue shirt.

"Will it hurt?" Jim whispered, keeping hold of his doctor.

Jim grabbed hold of Jim's had, making his grip looser. He placed it to Jim's side, keeping him calm.

"No, Jim. You'll have some general anaesthetic and be asleep the whole time. When you wake up, you'll feel a little sore but nothing compared to now." McCoy explained. He had never seen Jim worry like this before. "You'll be fine."

"It hurts now." Jim said through gritted teeth.

"It will now, but it won't as soon as I whip out that appendix." McCoy said, patting Jim gentling on the arm. "Just try and relax."

Jim nodded, the poking and prodding had angered the growing pain in his stomach, causing him more discomfort. He just wanted this over with.

 **oOo**

Jim must have nodded off at some point, as when he opened his eyes next he was in the operating room. McCoy was already dressed in his scrubs with Nurse Chapel. They were walking around him grabbing tools and equipment they would need.

"Bones…" He managed to whisper, he didn't want to panic, but he didn't know if he should be awake right now or not.

McCoy spun round of his feet and moved closer to Jim. "Hey, we are about to start. You ready?" he asked, waving a tricorder over Jim for a final set of readings.

Jim just nodded, he still felt terrible and moving would just make the pain worse again. He lifted up his hand, feeling a pinch at his skin. There was already a cannula set up for him, at least he didn't feel that going in.

Nurse Chapel handed McCoy the carefully measured out drugs and placed an oxygen mask over Jim's nose and mouth.

Jim's heart started beating faster. The mask over his face force fed him fresh oxygen that he didn't want. He felt stuck and unable to move. His body was too heavy. The walls moved in closer and closer as the mask continued to suffocate him in oxygen.

"Jim! You need to relax!" McCoy said, realising Jim was panicking. He grabbed hold of his arms and launched himself over Jim to stop him moving. "Nurse Chapel!" he called out.

Nurse Chapel saw the struggle and quickly grabbed the syringe out of her bosses hand before he injected himself with it.

"He's having a panic attack… we don't have the time for this! Give him the meds!" he shouted, fighting his way with Jim, who was surprisingly strong for someone with an appendix that was about to burst. He grabbed hold of Jim's hand, fighting him to keep it still while Nurse Chapel pushed the medication into him.

McCoy put his face in front of Jim's, making sure that he was all Jim could see.

"Count back with me now, Jim… 10…9…8…"

Jim stared at McCoy but continued to struggle as the walls grew closer. Suddenly his body felt heavier than before and was starting to turn numb. Before he knew it, his eyes were closing and a deep state of unconsciousness consumed him.

McCoy climbed off the table and let go of Jim, who was now still and sleeping. "Let's get that appendix out of him before it bursts. I think we've had enough excitement for one day."

 **oOo**

The first thing Jim became aware of was the engines hum. Such a peaceful and soothing noise. His ship was running beautiful and there wasn't a single alarm bell to be heard. Everything was okay.

His eyes started fluttering open and the grey walls of Sickbay came into focus. His body was still numb but he felt so much better than before. The beeping from the monitor above his head entered his ears, followed by a familiar tone of voice.

"Ah Jim, you're awake. How do you feel?" McCoy asked, pulling up a chair beside Jim's bed.

Jim looked down at his body. Not that there was much to see. He was wearing a hospital gown and had blankets up to his waist. That damn cannula was still in his hand, but if whatever Bone's had given him was going to keep him out of pain, he could cope with that for now.

"Numb." He finally replied.

"That'll be the meds. I've got you on the good stuff." McCoy said. "I'm just going to check your wound, okay?"

Jim laid his head back on the soft pillow and nodded slowly, it's not like he had a choice anyway.

McCoy opened Jim's hospital gown and peaked at the operation site, it was healing perfectly thanks to the dermal regenerator. "It looks great. A few more rounds with the regenerator and you won't even see a scar."

Jim smirked. "Good to know."

McCoy patted Jim on the arm. "See, you should come down to my sickbay when you feel like crap more often. Things work out so much better when you do as I say!"

Jim rolled his eyes. "Don't get used to it. I'll be back on that bridge as fit as a fiddle in a couple of days."

McCoy copied Jim and also rolled his eyes. "You won't be leaving Sickbay for at least a week! Then it will be light duty until I sign you off! Remember that, kid!"

"Yeah, yeah, Bones. We will see." Jim winked.

 **oOo**


	9. H is for Heat Stroke

_**Authors Note:**_

 _Here is H is for Heat Stroke/Heat Exhaustion! I'm sorry its taken me so long to write. My oldest started school and we've focused on that. But he's already settled in and I'm no longer worried!_

 _Because you've all had to wait so long I thought I would make it my longest update EVER. I had a comment asking to try and make the stories a little different to each other. Although I would like to think they were... I guess not THAT different. So! here you go! completely different. Here it is!_

 _Please, Please, Please! Let me know what you all think. Mistakes are my own - I've written this over a lot of different days so I hope it flows._

 _(PS. Spot the Enterprise quote!)  
_

* * *

 **Chapter Eight  
** **H is for Heat Stroke/Heat Exhaustion**

"Captain, I request that I go down to the planet's surface instead. You are of more use up here than I." Spock said, standing with the hands in the small of his back.

"You can go instead of me if you like." Bones huffed. He really did hate being down planet side, especially one that was hot and there were minimal places to hide for shade.

Jim smirked. "Nice try Bones, but the people of Sondara are waiting for your medical know-how. Spock, I appreciate the compliment but the leader of the camp has requested my presence personally. You have the conn while we are away."

The trio were busy in the cargo bay, stocking up a small shuttle pod with all the requested medical supplies. They had previously picked up a faint SOS call from a small group of miners on the Planet of Sondara. They were facing a medical outbreak of a disease similar to the chicken pox, however, due to the planets extreme heat and their lacking supplies they were unable to cope with the symptoms. The miners had requested help in return for some of the crystals they were mining.

"Then I request you send more people down with you." Spock continued. Wanting to be of some help.

"Spock, you are needed up here. The camp leader has asked for just two of our men to go on the planet side and deliver the medical supplies. It would be…unwise, to disobey his request. Don't you think?" Jim said, mocking Spock slightly as he rose an eyebrow.

Spock stood tight lipped, not noticing the mocking part from Jim's answer.

McCoy climbed into the shuttle pod with the last of the medical supplies. "That's it Jim, we are stocked up and ready to leave."

"We will keep an open comm the whole time." Jim said, attempting to make Spock feel better.

Spock nodded, leaving the cargo bay. It wasn't often they would use a shuttle pod to go down onto the planet surface. However, the planet's surface raged with violent sand storms. It would have been impossible for the transporter to lock onto them. At least this way Jim got to fly a shuttle, he hadn't done so for a while and was always up for a little adventure.

"Let's go, Bones. The miners of Sondara are waiting!" Jim cheered, closing the hatch of the shuttle behind him as he climbed into it.

 **oOo**

Luckily for Jim, the sand storms were still. He and Bones soon landed onto the planet surface and stepped out their craft. Jim had to land the shuttle about a mile away from the actual settlement, due to the risk of the shuttle picking up the sand and causing damage to the miner's camp.

"You couldn't have found a closer parking space?" McCoy said, following Jim out the shuttle pod. He could feel the heat radiating from the sand through his boots.

"We aren't taking the supplies directly to them, Bones. Just take what you need for now and we will be able to transport the rest to them with their help. We need to introduce ourselves first, don't you think?" Jim explained, using electronic binoculars to scout out the camp.

"Whatever you say, Jim." McCoy continued to sulk as he looked around. There was nothing for miles, just sand until the edge of the horizon.

"I think I can see the camp, this way." Jim said, marching forwards.

McCoy squinted at the direction Jim was walking to, not being able to see much, but to be fair he wasn't using binoculars. He swung his small leather satchel over his shoulder and followed Jim to the so called camp he saw.

 **oOo**

McCoy hated sand. He hated the beach. He hated the heat and right now he was beginning to hate Jim Kirk for dragging him on this damn mission on the first place. He kept looking down at his feet, every step he took his feet sunk into the sand slightly.

"Look! We are almost there!" Jim said, breaking the silence. He pointed over to a small camp.

McCoy looked up for the first time in an hour, his neck felt stiff and sore. He sighed, realising it was probably sun burnt. He could see roughly five or six tents and larger wooden shack in the middle. There was a small well on the outside of the tents for what McCoy assumed, was to supply water to the miners. "I thought they were miners?" he asked, continuing to follow the captain. He picked up speed a little knowing their hike was coming to an end.

Jim stopped and pulled out his electronic binoculars again.

McCoy was thankful for the break as he quickly pulled out his canteen half full of water and took a few mouthfuls.

"You see over there? To the right of the camp?" Jim said, pointing in the distance.

McCoy looked up where he pointed. Seeing the mechanical drills for the first time. He could have easily blushed at how obvious they were to see, luckily he was already red cheeked from the heat of the sun that had blasted down on them for the last hour and a half. So Jim wouldn't have noticed and he was spared the embarrassment.

"What is it they mine exactly?" he asked Jim, holding out his canteen for Jim to take and have a drink.

"Deuterium – it's an old fuel type of crystal. It hasn't been used in star ships for years." Jim said, taking a swig of water from McCoy's canteen.

"Then why are they still mining for it?" McCoy asked, waving his hand to encourage Jim to drink more.

Jim rolled his eyes, but took another mouthful of water before handing his drink back to the doctor. "The older cargo ships still require it. You know, for the first few years of space travel, the Enterprise required it too."

"But we don't need it now, so why ask for it?" McCoy continued to ask as the slowly started walking back towards the camp again.

"They offered it to us, and anyway, it wouldn't hurt for the science team to give it the once over and see if they can find out anything new about it." Jim said as camp came clearer and clearer into sight.

McCoy squinted his eyes, looking forwards to the tents. "Look, Jim! The miners!"

A couple of men were moving towards the pair, waving to grab their attention. One was clearly much older than the other. He had white hair and a slightly shaven beard to match. The other man, was a little bit taller than the older man. He had brown hair and hadn't dropped his smile since he first caught their attention. Both men were visibly tired, their clothes worn and covered in light coloured dust. It didn't take them long to catch up to McCoy and Jim.

"I am Captain Kirk. This is my chief medical officer, Doctor McCoy. I believe you were expecting us." Jim said, holding his hand out for the men to shake.

The old man shook Jim's hand without hesitation. "It's good to meet you, Captain. I am Steven, the camp leader. This is my son, AJ." he said. "Thank you for responding to our SOS call. You don't know how long we've been waiting for a response."

"You are more than welcome. Perhaps you could show Doctor McCoy to your patients?" Jim suggested, retracting his hand after noticing the younger of the two wasn't willing to shake his hand.

AJ looked around the men, expecting to see crates of medical supplies. "I thought you were bringing supplies with you?" he asked, looking deflated.

"We have them on board our shuttle craft." Jim explained.

Steven gave AJ a stern look. "That is enough, AJ. Let us show the captain to our people first."

AJ looked back at Steven, his smile stopped. "Yes, Father. Please, come this way."

McCoy and Jim exchanged a quick concerned glance, before dismissing it.

 **oOo**

Jim and McCoy were lead into the larger wooden building in the centre of camp. There were camp beds set up all down one side of the room. Almost all the beds were full. The people were covered in small raised red spots and laid still as they floated in and out of consciousness.

McCoy raised an eyebrow seeing the people lay lifeless. He quickly moved over to the closest bed and grabbed his tricorder out of his bag, waving it over a woman. She had long blonde hair, waving down to her shoulders, her eyes were closed and there was a shine to her forehead where she had a clear fever.

Jim, Steven and AJ followed McCoy and stood around the bed, out of his way.

"This is Natalie." AJ said, kneeling down to her bedside. He took her pale hand and wrapped his hands around it. "My wife."

"How long has she been like this?" McCoy asked, reaching into his bag for his hypo.

"About 3 days now. The disease spreads quickly. We have lost many of our camp from it." AJ explained, looking down at his wife's sleeping face.

"We started off with a camp size of 150 men and women. I met my late wife here. Together we started a family and AJ was born, followed by his younger sister Amelia. Soon our camp numbers were up to 200 as others followed. Our camp was a happy place to live and grow up in, the children played happily while we worked in the mines. For years we went on without a single issue." Steven explained to Jim.

"Until Amelia was bitten by a lizard…" AJ stared into the distance as the haunting memories of his sister shrieking out in pain entered into his memory.

Steven placed a reassuring hand on AJ's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"A lizard caused this?" McCoy asked pressing his hypo in Natalie's arm.

"The lizard caused the itching to begin, within hours Amelia was covered in the red spots. Her health soon deteriorated. My wife, Emily, cared for her until the end." Steven continued to explain, his eyes began to water as the memories haunted him again. "She was 10 years old."

AJ rose to his feet. Placing both his hands onto his father's arms. "We must remain strong, father."

Steven nodded. "You are correct, my son."

"Soon after Amelia's burial, my mother developed the rash. She managed to battle on for a few weeks, before she lost her fight. We attempted to find a cure, but none of our medications worked. Soon, the others caring for my mother during her final weeks, became ill. We have no way to isolate it and so it just continues to spread. We will not allow our friends… our family. To suffer alone." AJ explained, crouching back to down to hold Natalie's hand again.

"Be careful." McCoy said watching AJ's movements. He didn't want anyone else to contract the disease. "This disease is spread easily."

AJ looked up at the doctor with tired eyes. "It's too late. I won't let anyone else care for her." He explained as he lifted up the sleeve of his dusty jacket to reveal faint red spots.

"That'll explain the absent handshake then." Jim mumbled. "Bones, a word." He said, nodding his head towards the door.

McCoy quickly injected Natalie with the hypo he had prepared. He placed it on the side next to her bed and noticed the stern look he was receiving from AJ. "I just gave her something for the pain. If you'll excuse me." McCoy said swiftly following Jim to the door.

"Give me the facts, Bones. Can you help these people?" Jim asked after checking the coast was clear.

Bones took a deep breath. "I can isolate their symptoms… make them comfortable. But the disease has spread over 90% of the girl's body. Her organs are shutting down. I can't repair that kind of extensive damage."

"And what about the boy, AJ." Jim asked, searching for a positive side.

"If I can stop the disease from spreading that should give me enough time to find a cure, yes. But I'll need to find the lizard that started all this off in the first place, I have no idea what kind of poison this is." McCoy continued to explain.

"Get back to the patients, I'll see what Steven knows about the lizard." Jim said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Sure, Jim." McCoy attempted to turn on his heel, but felt a hand grip on his wrist.

"And be careful. I can't have my chief medical officer being sick now, can I?" Jim smirked.

McCoy smirked back at him. "It's not me that needs to be careful."

 **oOo**

As soon as Jim explained the situation to Steven, he looked just as pale as the others. Steven had taken him to his tent, away from AJ and Natalie. Even though AJ wanted to hear what Jim had to say as much as he did. The tent was small, but they both sat comfortably around the small living space they had. Jim welcomed the break in the shade, he seemed the longer they spent on the planet surface, the hotter it got…well felt.

"I'm sorry this couldn't be better news." Jim explained, breaking the stunned silence between them.

"My son will be heart broken. He and his wife… they grew up together. How am I supposed to tell him that thing…" he took a deep breath to stop himself from breaking down. "That the thing that killed his mother… his sister… it's going to kill his wife too."

"I'm sorry, Steven. I really am. I wish there was more we could do. But she will be comfortable, I can promise you that." Jim continued.

Steven rose to his feet and wiped the sweat from his face. "You must save AJ. I will not let this disease go any further." His voice suddenly filled with confidence as he moved over to a small trunk at the back of the tent. He opened it slowly, the creak echoed through the small tent.

"I kept this. Emily, she was very wise. She tried to find a cure from it too, but… we just didn't have the resources." He turned back to Jim and passed him a small shoe box with the dead lizard inside. It was still intact, kept in near perfect condition. "Take it and save my son. I will keep the others down in the mine, we must not allow it to spread."

Jim, who was a little freaked out about the fact this man kept a dead lizard in a trunk with his personal belongings, took the box. "I'll give it to my best people. They'll find a cure."

Jim reached around to his communicator and flicked it open with his free hand.

"Kirk to Enterprise."

"Spock here. Do you require assistance, Captain?" Spock buzzed down the comm.

"Not this time Spock, however I do have a small box that needs beaming up. Can Mr. Scott beam it up in one piece? Transmitting coordinates now." Jim asked.

"Due to the lack of current sand storms the transporter should not have an issue with locking onto it, Captain." Spock replied after a short time.

Jim placed the box on the floor. "Energise. Give it straight to the medical team in sickbay. We have a disease being spread like wildfire down here, caused by that things bite. Time is of the essence here, Spock. I want hourly updates."

"Understood, Captain." Spock said.

"Kirk out." He said, flicking his comm shut again. He looked over to Steven, who hadn't taken his eyes off Kirk. "I have the finest crew in Starfleet working on a cure for your son now."

Steven closed his watering eyes and nodded slowly. His eyes realising one single tear drop.

 **oOo**

The weather had started to turn for the worse. The wind was now more than a gust and often brought up the sand with it, causing it to smack Jim in the face. He had been offered goggles and a headscarf by AJ, but he couldn't risk the chance of being infected.

The other miners were working away in the mines and there was no way of contacting them until it turned dark out. Since the rapid spread of the disease, all the parents had brought their children down to the mine with them, to keep them safe. All that was left in the camp were the empty tents and the sick people McCoy was attending to. Steven had already travelled back into the mine to update them of the situation. He had taken some supplies using the only hover cart they had spare, seeing as McCoy wanted to isolate the disease. The mines were the safest place for the people now.

Jim had made the choice to start collecting the equipment from the shuttle craft himself. While McCoy continued his research, using AJ as his Guinea pig. He had to make a couple of trips and each one felt longer than the last, but finally he had the last case with him.

Jim stood outside of the wooden building in the centre of the camp, a few hours had passed since his last trip and McCoy was still working on making the miners of Sondara that were sick by making them more comfortable. By process of elimination he had found that a simple painkiller was enough to stop the disease from spreading. However as the pain med's start to wear off, the disease starts to spread again. Jim wanted to catch his breath before he saw McCoy again, the last thing he needed was a lecture on how he needed to spend more time in the gym.

With one final deep breath, he pushed open the door. The wind practically pushed him through, which was lucky as he didn't know how much more his feet could take.

McCoy soon noticed the door slamming open, but didn't look up from his patient.

"Is that the last case, Jim?"

Jim slammed the case down on a small table near and started to push the door closed, having to battle with the wind. "Yep." He managed to gasp out.

"Good, I think I've found…" McCoy stood up and took note of Jim for the first time. "Good God, Jim. Look at the state of you."

"Its… good to see you too." Jim huffed, still catching his breath. He had managed to close the door and bolt it. Stopping the wind from forcing it open again.

McCoy rolled his eyes. He picked up his half full canteen and placed it in Jim's hands. "Drink this. All of it."

Jim hadn't notice the raw feeling in his throat. It was bone dry and he couldn't remember the last time he had a drink. The burning sensation of bile rose up from his stomach at the thought of drinking more. His eyes were dropping and before he knew it he had collapsed to the ground. He kept his eyes open, he wanted to focus, and he couldn't lose it now, not when other people needed him.

McCoy crouched down in front of him, waving his tricorder. "Jim? Look at me. When was the last time you took a break? Had a drink?"

Jim tried to focus more on the man in front of him, but the room wouldn't stop spinning.

"There are two of you now?" he gasped, looking at the two figures of Bones in front of him.

McCoy looked down at his tricorder and rose a concerned eyebrow. "Jim your heart rate is too high and you too damn hot. You've got all the signs of heat exhaustion. Why didn't you ask for… Jim?" McCoy soon stopped his rant at the man, before noticing Jim was starting to close his eyes.

"Oh no you don't!" He yelled. "Jim you need to stay awake!" he shook Jim gently, causing Jim to open his eyes again.

"Just a few more minutes... Spock can…handle the bridge." Jim mumbled.

"AJ, I need you to help me get him to that free bed." McCoy called over to AJ, who was still sitting with his wife.

"But what about contaminating him?" AJ asked, walking over to the pair.

"There are some gloves in that case over there. Put them on… quickly." McCoy ordered. He reached around to grab his communicator. "McCoy to Enterprise. Medical emergency, come in!" he shouted, although there was no reply.

"There is a storm outside. You won't be able to reach your ship until it has cleared up." AJ explained, grabbing Jim with his gloved hands.

"That's just typical." McCoy growled.

Together they dragged Jim over to the spare camp bed that was set up next to Natalie. AJ had often used it to sleep closer to his wife, but luckily McCoy had already cleaned it all down.

Jim wanted nothing more than to lay down on the comfort of the bed, his eyes wanted to close more than ever although the mean doctor wouldn't let him sleep. He was tired. He was allowed to be tired, after all he had just lugged cases to and from the shuttle for them.

"Why didn't the fool just move the shuttle closer to the camp?" McCoy asked.

"To be fair, if he had, the sand would be more of an issue than it is now. The draft from the shuttle would have covered most of our tents… or damaged them." AJ explained, answering the question McCoy was actually asking himself.

"Then he should have asked for help." McCoy said, through gritted teeth. "Jim, you have to stay awake."

"No…no. Sleep now." Jim mumbled, his eyes dropping further.

"Can't you just let him sleep it off?" AJ asked.

"And risk him slipping into a coma? Are you mad?" McCoy spat back. He quickly injected the last vial of fluids into Jim, annoyingly he had already used most of his supplies up.

"It doesn't look like you have much choice…" AJ said bravely as he watched Jim's head nod to the side, his eyes were already shut tight.

"God Dammit, Jim!" McCoy growled. "We need to get his body temperature down. Grab me some water and a cloth." He ordered AJ as he moved Jim so he lent on his body. McCoy managed to manoeuvre Jim out of his jacket and golden shirt easily, before he laid him down. He bunched the clothes up and propped them under Jim's head.

AJ returned with the water and had already soaked the cloth in the water. McCoy wiped the sweat from Jim's face before wetting it again and placing it over his forehead. "That should help."

As soon as he comes round we need to get him to drink as much as he will let us. He needs to replace those fluids quickly. He should be in sickbay with a drip.

"The storm shouldn't last long. Then you should be able to use an emergency transport." AJ explained.

"Not with all the sand around. Our engineer can't get a lock onto us without the sand under our feet." McCoy explained, watching Jim sleep.

"But – Doctor. This building as wooden flooring. It shouldn't be a problem." AJ continued.

McCoy looked down at the floor and blushed. "So it is… our scanners didn't pick this up. You could have saved us a lot of time… and this from happening." He said gesturing at Jim.

"You never asked." AJ shrugged.

"Maybe next time – you should tell whatever space ship is passing – that you have a suitable transport pad." McCoy said, through gritted teeth.

"I'll be sure to mention it." AJ said, not realising their mistake.

 **oOo**

McCoy peaked out the door of the wooden building. "It's almost passed." He said, observing the weather.

"How do you think your people are doing with finding a cure?" AJ said, gripping hold of Natalie's hand tightly. He breathing had become shallow in the past hour.

McCoy, who was now also wearing gloves, squeezed AJ's shoulder as he father did earlier.

"I'm sorry, son. I've done all I can for her. She is comfortable. But her time is running out."

AJ squeezed his wife's hand tightly. His eyes welling up as the flow of tears began to flow down his face. "I was dreading those very words, Doctor. However, I knew they were coming. She is very weak… but… what shall I do now?"

"Hold her close. Let her know she is not alone." McCoy said gently.

AJ didn't speak, he just slowly nodded his head to the doctor. He crouched back down to her side and brushed her hair out of her face with his fingers. "I'm here, Natalie. Its… it's me. AJ. I want you to know… you're not alone. I'm… I'm so sorry I couldn't save you." His teared continued to fall and his voice broke. "It's ok. I understand you have to leave. Give mother and Amelia one of your world famous hugs from me, you hear? I love you so much."

McCoy watched Natalie's chest rise and still as she took her final breath. He waved his tricorder over her discreetly as AJ buried his face into her neck and softly kissed it.

"I'm sorry, AJ. She's gone." McCoy said quietly. "Take all the time you need. I won't let this disease claim another life."

McCoy moved back over to Jim, who was still sweating more than McCoy liked. He wetted the now dry cloth on his forehead, placing it back on his forehead.

Jim started to mutter as the cold damp cloth touched his sticky skin. His hands were starting to shiver.

"Jim, wake up, it's me, Bones."

Jim's eyes parted slightly, allowing the blood shot whites of his eyes to peak through. "C-c-c-cold." He shivered.

McCoy frowned, waving the tricorder over Jim again. "Jim, your temperature is still too high. You're not cold." He wrapped an arm around Jim's shoulders, forcing him to sit up slightly. "You need to drink this." He ordered, placing the canteen of water to Jim's dry lips and tipping it up.

The cool liquid hit Jim's mouth and he was given little choice but to swallow it down. He began to cough and splutter as the water was soon ejected out of his body.

"Tastes like acid." He mumbled.

McCoy rolled his eyes. "Jim, you really need to drink this. You've got a fever, your heart is racing. You've got all the symptoms of heat stroke. If you fall asleep again, you could slip into a coma."

"A coma?" Jim asked, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. "That sounds… nice right about now."

McCoy frowned as he pulled Jim further up the bed, forcing him to sit up and learn against the wooden walls.

"When we get back to Enterprise I'll let you sleep all like. But right now, you've got to stay with me and drink this water. Now, I'd give it to you intravenously if I had the gear, but I don't." McCoy explained. He held the liquid up to Jim's dry lips and tipped the canteen slightly, forcing Jim to drink the water again.

Jim listened to his doctor and took a mouthful of the water. He managed to ignore the taste and swallow it down. Despite the fact it made him cough afterwards. He closed his eyes and panted for breath.

"Good." McCoy said, watching as Jim took shallow breaths. "Hey, Jim." He said, nudging the captain awake again.

"Hi… Bones." He whispered, pealing his eyes open slightly.

"Security protocols. Run them through with me one more time." McCoy asked. He didn't really need to know about them, but it was a good way of keeping Jim awake.

"You've got to be kidding me." Jim mumbled, his eyes rolling. "Spock…can handle the ship."

"I want you to tell me what they are." McCoy replied, noticing he was losing his battle to keep Jim awake, luckily the sound of his communicator sounding was enough to break his concentration away from Jim. He stood up from Jim's bed and walked over to the wooden door. The last thing he needed was Jim stressing about other things, not that he was in a position to anyway.

"McCoy here. It's good to hear from you." He said once he had flicked it open.

"Spock here, Doctor. We believe to have found a cure for the earlier symptoms of the disease. It was not easy to isolate." Spock said, not noticing the strain in McCoy's voice.

"Great timing, Spock, I trust you'll be able to transport the cure down here yourself. We need an emergency medical beam up straight into Sickbay. Transmitting coordinates now."

"But Doctor, the camp leader requested that…" Spock asked, but McCoy cut him off.

"Well then you can explain to him that your captain is currently suffering from a nasty case of heat stroke."

"Understood, Doctor. Stand by for beam up."

"You can't just leave! Not now!" AJ said, overhearing the conversation.

"It's ok, they've found a cure and our science officer will be down with my top nurse to administer it to you and all the others in your camp." McCoy explained.

"But…" AJ looked over to his wife's body, not knowing what he should do next.

"I'm sorry – I can't stay. Jim needs to be in sickbay. The best thing you can do for your family now is to keep those gloves on and to go and let them know that more of our people will be down soon. You wanted help, well its coming. Now, let me help my captain." McCoy said, gripping AJ's upper arms reassuringly. It was clear to the see the man didn't want to be left on his own.

"What about the others down here?" AJ asked, gesturing to the people laying on the other beds.

McCoy let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry, AJ. Their prognosis is the same as your wife's. The disease has spread too far. There's nothing I can do for them."

"I won't leave them to die on their own." AJ said, straightening up.

McCoy smiled at the man's bravery. "Stay strong AJ. Help is coming soon."

He moved over to Jim's bed. He threw his bag over his shoulder and dragged Jim up off the bed. He was already sleeping and even the sudden jolt of being dragged up to his feet, didn't wake him. McCoy managed to fumble open his comm with one hand. "Energise." He ordered.

The gentle tingling feeling overcame the pair and when his vision cleared he noticed he was standing in the middle of sickbay.

 **oOo**

Nurse Chapel was instantly at his side, grabbing the other side of Jim, allowing her to take some of his weight off McCoy.

Together they dragged Jim over to the nearest empty bed. The second they laid him down the alarm on the monitors sounded.

"His temperature and heart rate are still too high." McCoy said.

Nurse Chapel was already at his side with the correct hypo to help with the symptoms.

McCoy grabbed it and quickly pressed it into Jim's neck. The pair held their breath while they watched the alarms silence and the stats fall, as the medication took effect.

"We need to get some fluids into him." McCoy said to Nurse Chapel. He moved over to grab the equipment needed, not noticing Nurse Chapel following him.

He placed his hands over the equipment but before he could grab hold of them a soft pair of hands stopped him.

"I can do this. Why don't you grab yourself a drink and a shower?" Nurse Chapel asked sweetly, she had taken note of how tired out McCoy looked.

"It won't take me long." McCoy protested.

"Then I can manage easily. You were down on the planet over 10 hours, I think you need to freshen up." She wasn't taking no for an answer.

McCoy took a deep breath. He looked down at his hands. They were incredibly dusty, so much so that you could see where he had worn gloves on the planet surface. "Fine, but I'm coming straight back."

"The captain will be waiting right here for you, sir." Nurse Chapel smiled, grabbing hold of the equipment before McCoy could change his mind.

"Any problems – then you comm me straight away." McCoy said sternly before leaving.

"Of course, Sir. Now, go!" She said, shooing him with her free hand.

 **oOo**

McCoy couldn't believe the difference he felt in himself after a shower and a clean uniform. He soon found himself strolling back into sickbay feeling completely refreshed. The second those doors opened he moved over to Jim where Nurse Chapel was speaking to Spock.

"I think its best to wait for Doctor McCoy, Sir." Nurse Chapel said to Spock. "He shouldn't be much longer."

"You're right. Spock what's the problem?" McCoy asked without looking at the Vulcan. He picked up Jim's notes and instantly looked up at his monitor to see the vitals were as stable as they were when he left him earlier.

"I requested a simple de-brief from Nurse Chapel, as to how the captain got himself into ill health on the planet's surface." Spock said, placing the hands into the small of his back.

McCoy almost dropped the PADD with Jim's notes on at Spock's request. "Seriously? You need to know that right now? It's THAT important? Never mind the fact the captain's practically in a coma on the bed in front of you?"

Spock turned to face the doctor. "The fact that the captain cannot return straight to duty after an away mission IS that important to me, Doctor. If I am to take command of the Enterprise then …"

The faint dry whispers from the bed soon stopped them both. "Can't you to just get along for 1 day?" Jim smirked at the pair.

McCoy smiled back. "It's good to see you awake, Jim. How do you feel?" he asked, moving himself to the side of the bed. Nurse Chapel had already started the move the bed upright, allowing Jim to feel less vulnerable.

Jim looked around, noticing he was now in sickbay.

"Umm, a little confused. When did we get back to the ship?"

"About 2 hours ago." McCoy said, tapping at the bag of fluids attached to Jim.

"Well, I think I'm ready to get back to the bridge now…" Jim said attempting to sit up further in the bed before a rush of dizziness brushed over his sight, forcing him back down onto the soft pillow.

"Jim, you're recovering from heat stroke. You need replacement fluids and your temperature is still a little too high. You aren't going anywhere for a while yet." McCoy explained.

"What about the miners?" Jim asked, turning to Spock.

"We were successful with finding a cure for the earlier symptoms and a preventative for those not infected. A small medical team beamed down and transmitted the cure to all the miners and their families. We left the correct equipment so that if this happened again, they would have the ability to conduct the antidote themselves." Spock explained.

Jim smiled, resting his head further on the pillow. "That's good to hear, thank you, Spock."

"Now if you're finished working – the captain has to rest." McCoy interrupted.

"I expect a full report submitted in your logs, doctor." Spock said, bowing his head to leave.

"Unbelievable." McCoy mumbled.

"Give him a break, he's worried about me!" Jim almost laughed.

"The day Spock worries about something, will be the day pigs fly!" McCoy laughed back.

 **oOo**

"Although your loss was great – may I express my sincerest sympathy to you and your families." Jim said.

He was sitting back on the bridge, back where he felt most comfortable. McCoy had let him out of sickbay temporarily before their ship left orbit. Jim wanted to say goodbye to the miners himself.

"Thank You, Captain Kirk. Without your help and your incredibly talented science team I would not be speaking to you today. Your science officer, Spock, was it? Transported with enough crystals for you to learn from." Steven said back. "I can only apologise for the illness that struck you. It is good to see you feeling better."

Jim laughed, "Thank you, Steven. Mr. Spock has already started his research. Send our regards to AJ, won't you?"

"Of course. He will make a fine camp leader one day. The courage he showed in caring for all those departed was something that will be remembered and retold for generations to come. He is currently building a school house, to carry on Natalie's memory." Steven explained.

"That's good to hear. Hopefully we will return one day to see it." Jim said, rising to his feet from his chair. The overwhelming sensation to shut his eyes to sleep was pulling him in.

"I hope so too, Captain. Safe travels." Steven said, smiling until the communication was cut and the stars were all that was left to see.

"Mr. Sulu… take us out of here." Jim said, taking command.

The turbo lift doors opened behind him, causing Jim to turn around at the noise of the doors whooshing.

"Finishing making orders now, captain?" McCoy said, folding his arms.

"Bones, I feel fine. I'm sure I can cope with staying up here a little longer." Jim pleaded, fighting the tiredness his body was overcome by.

"Nice try. One more night in sickbay, then I'll think about letting you rest in your quarters with light duties." McCoy said, moving closer to Jim and grabbing his arm.

"Fine. Mr. Spock, you have the conn." Jim said, rolling his eyes.

 **oOo**


	10. I is for Intervention

**_Authors Note:_**

 _I think I need to start making more effort to update this more often. I think I'm loosing followers. I hope you are all enjoying this still.  
So here is I, it was kinda hard, as it is one of those trickier letters. So the story is, without giving too much away, if Jim hadn't stepped in and interfered/intervened then he wouldn't end up in this mess!_

 _I think this is more of a friendship one shot. But I quite liked writing it. My first ever Academy Years attempt too.  
Written over a number of nights. I hope it makes sense. I apologise for mistakes._

 _Let me know what you think, reviews spur me on and inspire me to continue. Thank you._

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

 **I is for Intervention**

 ** _Set in the Academy Years_**

 ** _Intervene: To take part in something so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events._**

It had been a long and crappy day for Jim Kirk. Somehow he had managed to oversleep, despite his roommates best efforts to wake him up this morning. Jim dragged his tired feet across the floor walking up to the dorm room he shared with his best friend. He couldn't even remember McCoy attempting to wake him up in his half asleep state this morning.

 _"_ _GodDamnit, Jim! Wake up! You're stinking up the place!"_

 _"_ _Just 5 more minutes, Bonesey." Jim mumbled back into his pillow._

 _"_ _You're going to be late and what have I told you about calling me that? It's McCoy. Leonard McCoy." McCoy replied back, his patience growing thinner by the second._

 _"_ _But I don't wanna." Jim said, turning his head the opposite way from the doctor's judgemental looks._

 _"_ _Fine, be late. See what I care." McCoy said, waving his hand in the air. "I'm going to class now. I'm working late tonight. Starfleet General have requested all placement students to take a night shift. You'll have to fend for yourself." And with that he walked out the door._

As he was late for most of his classes, not only did have to listen to the same lecture about how Star ship Captains can never afford to be late for a single thing, he was also expected to make up the time he had missed by staying late and on top of that complete an extra assignment for every class, by tomorrow.

Swinging the door open he just about managed to throw his black messenger bag on the floor and tumble into their small open plan kitchen. It was already dark out but the blind on the one large window they had, was left open, swamping the room with darkness.

"Lights, 90%." Jim ordered, stopping before he fell over in the dark.

The room suddenly lit following the orders Jim had requested. Jim half expected to see McCoy asleep on the sofa but was confused when he saw nobody there.

He shrugged off his missing friend, assuming he had already gone to bed, and sulked over to the fridge. Usually McCoy made the pair dinner and if Jim wasn't around after McCoy had prepared it, then he would stash a plate full in the fridge for Jim to eat later. McCoy knew that Jim wouldn't eat or attempt to survive off take out if he didn't prepare something. Although Jim saw no such meal when he opened the fridge door. All that remained in their was a half empty carton of pure orange juice and some soya yoghurt thing McCoy liked on his breakfast in the morning.

Jim frowned to himself, before shrugging off the missing food as well. "I'm not that hungry anyway." He spoke to himself before scooping his bag off the floor and empting the contents of it onto their small counter table. He had 3 assignments to write in one night, but was really lacking the motivation to do so.

He sat down at the table and opened one of his books, noticing the small note left propped up against the empty fruit bowl.

 _Jim,_

 _Hope you weren't too late this morning. I did attempt to wake you with no luck._

 _Working a shift in SFG tonight._

 _You'll have to feed yourself._

 _Try not to wake me in the morning._

 _Leonard_

Jim tapped the note on the table, tutting to himself. Working out he now had the place to himself all night. He slammed his book closed and ran into his small sleeping area of the room. He wasted no time changing into a pair of light blue jeans and a causal black t shirt. He threw a pair of black boots on and grabbed his leather jacket hanging over the end of his bed on his way out. There was no way he was staying in doing some assignments that would probably end up in the trash when he could be out relaxing.

On his way out the dorm room he just about remembered his communicator and keys. He flicked his comm open and slammed the door behind him.

"Sulu – its Jim. Grab the guys, we are going out… Meet me at O'Neil's in 10."

 **oOo**

Jim was actually at the bar in 5 minutes. That was the best thing about where their student quarters were located. The best bar was literally a 5 minute, fast paced, walk away.

The bar was pretty full, but that didn't stop Jim from pushing his way in and getting straight to the barman. "A shot of jack, straight up." He ordered. He looked around for his friends but failed to spot them. He assumed they were still on their way. He turned back around to spot his drink waiting for him and grabbed it. "I'll start a tab." He told the barman. He spotted a small empty table in the corner, away from the crowds of younger students. "Better keep 'em coming. I'll be over there."

"No problem, Jim. Here, just take the bottle." The barman replied. They knew Jim pretty well, seeing as he was there most nights. "It would just be easier on me seeing as I'm a staff member down tonight."

Jim took the bottle and laughed. "You're the boss." He winked, moving over to the empty table.

He took a mouthful of his shot, gritting his teeth as the burning liquid slid down his throat. Jim took a seat at the table, making himself comfortable by sticking his feet on the opposite empty chair. He watched the groups of people around him, pouring himself another glass full before swallowing it straight down again.

Jim had completely lost track of time as he sat drinking his Jack Daniels, watching the people socialise around them. Most of them clearly out however a couple remained, mostly couples that had no intentions of moving out to the bigger clubs and bars. It had completely left his mind that he was waiting for Sulu and some of their other friends from their classes.

He continued to people watch, wondering what they could be discussing, maybe how their day went, what classes they had tomorrow, what they had planned for the future. To be honest, Jim didn't care. He just found his mind drifting from thought to thought as he continued to drink.

He wondered how McCoy's night was going. Probably completely uneventful. It could never be fun being stuck at a hospital during the night, where mostly normal people would be sleeping.

"I told you. No. Move away."

A female panicked voice soon snapped him out of his thought trail, He didn't recognise the woman, but luckily the bar was reasonably empty now so it didn't take much to work out who the voice belonged to.

A short, blonde woman, dressed in her red cadet uniform, was slowly backing up towards the wall of the bar.  
A drunken male, who was also dressed in his cadet uniform followed her as she continued to back up. He was physically fit. Jim actually raised his eyebrows in surprise when he noticed the size of his biceps.

"Steven. I said no." The blonde girl stopped as her back hit the wall. She raised her hands to push him away however his brute strength was too much for her to manage.

"C'mon Lisa, let's go outside. Just us two." Steven continued, grabbing a fistful of her hair, forcing the young cadet to let out a gasp in pain.

Jim pushed himself up, slamming his hands on the table. He staggered up to the pair, noticing the girl's eyes watering the closer he moved. If he hadn't drank so much, he would have been thinking a lot straighter, maybe he would have used his common sense and called for help, but he was running out of time.

"I suggest you let go of the cadet." Jim managed to speak clearly, surprising himself as he hiccupped.

Steven turned to Jim and looked him up and down.

"You've got to be kidding. This is nothing to do with you. I suggest you back away now." He sniggered. Although he did let go of Lisa's hair.

"Sure, I'll leave. But the young lady is coming with me." Jim continued, grabbing hold of her hand gently. He pulled her closer as they walked out the bar together. The cold night's air was a welcoming feeling on his face as they stepped outside. Just opposite the bar was a large, well lit, open grass area with a bench. Jim kept hold of Lisa's hand, not looking behind them as he made his way over to the bench.

"Are you ok?" he asked the girl, gesturing for her to take a seat on the bench once they reached it.

"Th-th-thank you. But you don't know Steven, you shouldn't have interfered." She said, wrapping her hands around herself to keep her warn.

Jim noticed the young girl beginning to shiver. He took his leather jacket off and wrapped it around her. "I'm not scared of bullies like him. I'm Jim by the way."

"I'm Lisa." She said, sliding her arms in the oversized jacket. "Steven is no bully. He and his gang… they are on their last warnings for being violent towards other cadets here. If it wasn't for his stupidly high test scores, they probably would have kicked him out already."

Jim sat down next to Lisa. The air was cold, so cold that their breath was beginning to show in the air, leaving a smoking trail from their noses and mouths. "People like that – they don't scare me. I've seen worse. Trust me."

Lisa looked down at her fidgeting hands. "Thank you for saving me. Who knows what he would have done if you hadn't helped."

"You're welcome." Jim said. "Where's your quarters? I'll walk you back."

She looked up at him, her big blue eyes glistened in the moonlight. She quickly moved in, planting a light kiss on his lips, before moving away again.

"It's on the Eastside."

Jim, who was now trying hard not to blush, cleared his throat and smiled. "Let's go. It's getting late." He said, standing back up to his feet. He offered her his hand to hold as together they walked back to her quarters.

 **oOo**

Lisa's student quarters were a little further away than Jim's and also in the complete opposite direction to his own, but they soon made it back. She stood outside the main entrance. Jim was ready to follow her in but she stopped him.

"I'd invite you up, but my roommate… she will be sleeping. She has an important test tomorrow and I really don't want to disturb her." She explained.

"That's fine, as long as you'll be ok walking up there yourself. Anyway, my roomie Bones will probably be waiting for me to get back, he can get real grumpy if I'm late." Jim lied, attempting to hide his disappointment.

"I'll be fine." She smiled. Anyway, Steven can't access this building.

Lisa went to take Jim's jacket off to hand it back, but he stopped her.

"Keep it for now." He said, placing his hand on hers. "It's a good excuse to see you again." He winked.

Lisa laughed a little. She planted another small light kiss on Jim's blushed cheek. "Deal. I'll see you around, Jim."

Jim watched her enter the main entrance of her dorm. She gave him a small wave as the door closed behind her and she walked off to her own room.

Jim sighed, before turning around to make his way back to the bar. He secretly hoped that Sulu was now there and waiting for him, but it was late. Who knew where they were.

It didn't take Jim long to stumble back to the bar, although he didn't feel like going back in by the time he made it back. The alcohol in his system was wearing thin. Although he did need to pay his tab… He supposed one more for the road wouldn't hurt.

He attempted to walk into the bar, but two large men stopped him. Jim practically walked into them before they each grabbed a hand and dragged him outside again. They pushed him down onto the hard paved ground outside as the first man threw a hard fist straight into Jim's cheek.

"Back so soon?" he asked

Jim had no time to reply when another fist was pounded into his gut.

"Just can't keep your hands off other people's girlfriends can you?"

Jim didn't even need to look up to work out who was punching him.

"Steven, I presume." Jim coughed, attempting to get back to his feet before another fist to the face knocked him back down.

"We've heard a lot about you, Jim Kirk." Steven explained. Rubbing his knuckles in his other hand before swinging for Jim again. "But never had you down for a girlfriend thief."

Jim coughed again, struggling to catch his breath as the punch landed straight into his gut again. "I have… no idea… what you're talking about." He said, spitting blood from his mouth onto the floor.

"Lisa. You need to keep your hands off her." The other man said, waving his fist ready to punch Jim again, although Steven stopped him.

"No – I'll finish him off, you keep watch." Steven ordered the other man.

He grabbed hold of Jim's body and dragged him down the alley behind the bar. Jim had absolutely no strength left in him to defend himself as Steven pushed him against the wall, punching him over and over again.

Jim's knees soon gave way as his body struggled to stay conscious.

"Steven, finish up, I can hear people coming." The man called down the alley. It was music to Jim's muffled hearing.

"I won't forget your face." Steven growled, picking up an empty beer bottle from the trash can by the bar door and smashing it around Jim's head, sending him straight into unconsciousness as the glass shattered around him.

 **oOo**

Doctor Leonard McCoy had a bad feeling. Like, a really bad feeling.

He had always put a lot of faith into bad feeling. He had them a lot, about all sorts of things and most of the time those things turned out to be bad. Meaning he had soon learnt to trust his gut. Call it intuition? Or maybe a sixth sense? Whatever it was, it was going off right now, sending alarm bells ringing in his head and he didn't like it. Not one damned bit.

He'd made it back to their shared quarters shortly after 3am and had practically fallen straight onto the sofa, nothing out of the ordinary there. Although, Jim was nowhere to be seen and that was the weird thing, as he would have normally waited up for him to come back before he had gone to bed. He had a theory about that, which was that Jim was afraid of being alone and didn't want to fall asleep with nobody else in the apartment. Although he kept his theory to himself.

Leonard had just about dragged himself back into a sitting positon on the sofa as he called out Jim's name, but there was no answer. Turning his head back towards the door he had just come in, he had noticed Jim's communicator missing from the side, meaning he must be out. Jim never left the apartment without it. He knew Jim liked to go out and get drunk, pick up girls or get into the occasional bar scrap, but never anything serious.

The kid had been a blessing in disguise really, after being vomited on, Leonard couldn't see any reason why the kid would want to keep hanging out with him, but within a week they were sharing a cadets quarters and eating lunch together. It was like they had always been friends. He soon learnt that Jim was easy to talk to, a great listener. He never judged him for any of his mistakes and would more than often allow him to rant and rave about the idiot's that made their way into the hospital on his shift. Despite his growing reputation as playboy and the fact the kid wouldn't eat unless he placed food under his nose, Jim never brought girls back to the apartment and always came back before curfew.

Overall he was an awesome roommate and was fast becoming a good friend to him.

In any case, he should have been back by now and the fact Jim's communicator was missing, gave Leonard a bad feeling.

He pulled out his comm and quickly punched in Jim's code, hoping the kid wouldn't be too pissed off about being checked up on. Normally he would let Jim have his privacy, but he had never known Jim to not try and contact him, just to let him know where he is or that he was staying over at Sulu's or something.

The comm remained silent for a few heart achingly long minutes before finally a reply.

"H-Hello? Who is this?" a young girl spoke back.

Leonard instantly rolled his eyes. He had met a girl. Of course he had met a girl.  
"I'm sorry, Miss. I'm just looking for Jim. I assume he's with you?"

The girl yawned down the comm, her breath whistling in the speaker. "Who? Oh! Jim! My saviour. He's not here." She replied, giggling at the 'saviour' reference.

Leonard suddenly raised an eyebrow and gripped the comm a little tighter. "Well, do you know where he is? And do you mind explaining why you have his communicator?" he found himself raising his voice slightly.

The girl yawned again. "Sorry. I'm Lisa. The one he lent his jacket to. He walked me home after my boyfriend… well ex-boyfriend, wouldn't leave me alone. I guess he left the communicator in the jacket pocket. I don't know where he could be now, he told me he was going home, apparently his roommate, Bones, gets real grumpy if he's late home." She explained.

Leonard rolled his eyes again and gripped his free hand into a tight fist. "It's past curfew. What time was it when he left yours?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. About 2300 hours?" Lisa said.

"So, 4 hours ago?!" McCoy found himself raising his voice even louder. He practically slammed his fist on the coffee table in front of him.

"Oh, is that the time? I guess so then…well, I would go and look for him but I just don't feel safe with Steven outside. I hope you find him." Lisa replied as the line went dead.

McCoy threw his comm across the room in frustration, sending it flying into the books Jim had left dumped on their small table. "Son of a…" McCoy growled. He paced around the small apartment. He had two choices, Attempt to sleep and hope that Jim comes home eventually, or, stick with his gut feeling and go and find Jim. He knew he wasn't going to sleep knowing Jim, the one person that had never stayed out past curfew, was still out in the middle of the night. So he grabbed his jacket and picked up his comm again. After checking it still worked, he almost ran straight out the door.

 **oOo**

The late night air was bitter. McCoy could see his breath each time he exhaled and after picking up some pace, seeing it was turning more frequent. He wrapped his arms around his body protectively to keep himself warmer. He had start to regret not wearing a warmer one. "Jim!" he called out as he made his way over to their usual drinking spot. If Jim had met the girl there, it could be possible that's where Jim walked back to. Although who knows what's going through that kids thick skull half the time.

The bar was completely shut up but that didn't stop him from pressing his hands and face up against the glass window to check for his friend. Although his hopes of finding Jim passed out on the bar chairs soon fizzled out when he saw the bar empty.

"Jim!" he called out again, looking around with what street light was remaining. McCoy fell silent, hoping to hear the slightest hint of sound but it was useless, until the sound of glass rustling down the alley next to him caught his attention. He turned to the pitch black alley and squinted, attempting to see through the darkness.

"Bones…" a small weak voice whispered, it was hardly audible but McCoy's ears pricked up. His gut feeling was right once again.

"Jim… is that you? What the hell are you doing in the damn alley? Trying to scare the life out of me?" McCoy asked, moving closer to the darkness.

"H-Help…" Jim's voice was weak and McCoy suddenly realised he wasn't joking around anymore.

"Jim?" McCoy said again, his walking pace speeding up. "Hang on, I have a torch." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his small pen torch, it was supposed to be used for checking the reaction of pupils in his patients, but he started carrying it around with him anyway. He shone the small light down the alley as he creeped closer towards Jim, until finally the light caught Jim's swollen and bruised face.

McCoy almost dropped his torch when he saw Jim in the light. "God damnit, kid." He said, kneeling down to his friend and inspected the wounds closer. "You're covered in glass."

Jim kept his arm wrapped tightly around his waist, wanting to protect his battered body. He flinched and took a deep breath as McCoy placed a hand on his face.

McCoy noticed the flinch, not that Jim had tried hard to hide it. "Hey, it's okay. It's me, Leonard."

"L…Leonard?" Jim looked up showing his confused expression. He squinted his eyes as the light shone bright into his face.

"Bones. It's Bones, remember me?" McCoy said, noticing the confused look on Jim's face.

Jim lent into his touch slightly, he did know Bones. "Bones." He whispered.

McCoy watched as Jim's whole body suddenly relaxed as he worked out he was there. It was quite a comforting thing. "Look at the state you're in. Who did this?"

Jim swallowed the building saliva in his mouth. "Nobody." He lied.

"I'm sure as hell you didn't smash a bottle over your head yourself. We need to get you up on your feet so I can take a look at those wounds." McCoy replied, rolling his eyes at the obvious lie Jim had just told him.

He grabbed Jim's free arm and wrapped it around his shoulders. Pulling Jim up was a lot easier than he thought but he wasn't expecting to hear the small yelp of pain Jim attempted to hold in.

"It's okay, once we are out of this damn alley I'll know what I'm working with." McCoy said, practically dragging all of Jim's weight onto his own.

"You sound like you're enjoying this." Jim huffed, the air escaping his lungs caused him to wheeze with every small step they took.

McCoy attempted to hide his concerned looks, the last thing he needed was Jim freaking out on him. But that damn wheeze… and the fact Jim hadn't let go of his side… could easily be an indicator of a breathing issue.

Together they made it to the small bench outside the bar. Jim smirked as he slowly lowered into a sitting positon on the bench.

"What are you giving me that look for?" McCoy asked, noticing the goofy look.

Jim quickly dropped his smirk. "Oh the things I could tell you about this bench."

McCoy tutted. He could easily guess that a girl was involved, but was just pleased Jim could remember it. Seeing Jim in the light almost took his breath away. He had been beaten worse than he first assumed and was silently cursing at the fact he hadn't brought a tricorder with him.

"Jim, I need to get you to Starfleet General." He said, breaking the small slience that had formed between them.

"Can't you treat me here? Or even better, back at home?" Jim pleaded. He hated the thought of hospital. Where he would be quizzed further on what exactly happened. Jim was a lot of things, but a grass wasn't one of them, and anyway, he knew if he hadn't drank half a bottle of Jack, he could have easily taken the pair on himself and won.

McCoy turned his back and reached into his pocket again, pulling out his communicator. He punched in some of the buttons without hesitation.

"Hello, yeah… I need a cab as soon as possible…Destination? Yeah that's Star Fleet General Hospital…Outside O'Neil's."

Jim attempted to focus further on the conversation McCoy was attempting to have without him noticing but his attention was falling short. The rush of alcohol, flirting and fighting had practically disappeared and the fatigue he was fighting was beginning to win.

McCoy closed his comm, "I've called us a cab. I can sneak you in that way." There was no way he could hustle most of Jim's body weight half way across campus anyway. McCoy tucked the comm back in his pocket and turned around to check on Jim… who was being suspiciously quiet.

His heart almost skipped a beat when he saw Jim laying on his unwounded side on the bench with his eyes closed.

"Damn it, Jim!" he instantly reached for Jim's neck and checked a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief after counting the strong steady beats. "Jim, you can't sleep. Not yet, you're probably concussed."

"Just… 5 more minutes…Bonesy." Jim wheezed, keeping his eyes closed.

 **oOo**

It wasn't the sound of steady beats that came to his attention first, more the faint mumbling of a couple of familiar tones.

 _"_ _He sent us to the wrong bar! We just assumed he had got caught up."_

 _"_ _Well it's a good job I found him then."_

 _"_ _Don't be like that, Leonard. How were we supposed to know he was going to end up in the alley way?"_

 _"_ _Just next time… call him when he's not where he should be. I need to plant a tracker on the damn kid."_

"Don't you dare." Jim whispered, his voice dry and weak.

"I've got to go Sulu. He's finally awake." McCoy said, shutting his comm down to end the call. "How do you feel?"

Jim blinked his eyes to clear his vision slightly. He felt a pinching sensation in his hand and it didn't take him long to notice where he was. The white walls, the smell of antiseptic and beds all around him… "You brought me to work with you?" he quizzed, noticing McCoy in his civvies clothing still.

"No, Jim. You were in a pretty nasty bar fight. Turns out you've got a couple of cracked rips, on top of the multiple cuts covering your face and hands. What the hell happened to you?"

Jim kept his mouth shut tight, before realising that his friend wasn't going to give up until he got an answer. "I… don't remember." He lied.

McCoy placed his hands on his hips. "Yeah, sure. Look, kid. You don't have to tell me now but the campus security will probably have it on tape. They are going to want to investigate."

"They won't bother if they don't know I'm here." Jim said, attempting to sit up.

McCoy let out a small sigh at Jim's feeble attempt to sit up right. He moved over to the hospital bed controls and lifted the bed to make Jim more comfortable. "Try not to move too much. The pain medication isn't the strongest seeing as you were out cold. How do you feel now?" he asked again, after not getting an answer before.

"Like I've got an army marching on my head." Jim answered honestly, for a change.

"That'll probably be the hangover. Serves you right. Your tox screen was off the charts, did you even eat after class?" McCoy asked, waving a tricorder over Jim again.

"There wasn't anything in the fridge." Jim shrugged although the motion made him gasp with pain.

"You've got to start taking better care of yourself, kid. What would you do if you were stationed without me somewhere?" McCoy felt a prang of guilt at the thought. The pair had grown pretty close since they were first housed together.

"Trust me Bonesy, I won't let that happen. When I become captain one day, you'll be on my ship." Jim said, grabbing hold of McCoy's hovering arm.

"It won't happen if you continue to call me Bones." He said rolling his eyes.


End file.
